Shadows Like Ghosts
by Rosabell
Summary: Semi-AU.After Piper died Wyatt became evil and took over most of the world. Young Chris assembled the Resistance to fight him and protect free beings, but 5 yrs later Wyatt captured him. Billie calls upon Cole to save Chris, but Chris has lost his memory
1. Prologue: Cole

Shadows Like Ghosts

Prologue-Cole

Darkness clouded the land. The main city seemed to be shrouded by a black fog. It lay in ruins from the rampage five years ago, but no one has bothered to rebuild it, not even the conqueror himself. Wyatt Halliwell was determined to conquer the world first, before he would pay attention to any reconstruction.

" What do you intend to do?"

Cole released a breath, looking at the remains of the mall he had once frequented with Phoebe Halliwell. His breath puffed into a white fog that dissipated in the gray air. " I don't know." He shrugged. " The Halliwells have always been very complicated."

" Don't I know it." Said Billie. " But you would know best, I suppose. He is the last true Halliwell, if you can think from that perspective."

" I know." Cole nodded, but he remained where he stood, unmoving.

The witch sighed, watching her own breath fog in front of her. " He was our last hope. Stubborn jackass just didn't see it that way."

" Stubborness runs in that family." Cole replied. " Besides, if he were not so stubborn, he wouldn't be your last hope. You should appreciate the character when it's due."

" Oh believe me." Billie tossed her hair. " When he's not out getting himself killed I appreciate him a lot. I'd like to continue doing so, so if you don't mind, try to get him out, even if you do nothing else."

Again, Cole was silent and unmoving.

" Seriously!" The witch snapped then. " What would it take to get you out of this funk huh? He's needed you since this whole madness started and all you've done was watch."

" I have watched for so long." Said Cole quietly. " I watched the love of my life die in front of me. I've grown so use to watching that I no longer remembered how to interfere." He looked over at the dusty streets where several cars were still parked, their windshields and bumpers cracked and in pieces on the sidewalk. " The truth is, I let her die because I no longer had the will to save her. How can I save him?"

Billie sighed then. " You know how." She said. " You've seen everything. How he was always the lesser of the two brothers. Of all the children, really. How Leo just pampers Wyatt and ignored him. You should have stepped in then."

" I was too evil for that."

" Who's to judge?" Billie shrugged. " We all can be wrong. Devastatingly wrong. Just look at Wyatt. We were all pretty wrong about him, weren't we. Out of all the family, Chris suffered the most. The others passed on, and he's all alone. He needs someone from your generation. Someone who actually cares. Not that son-of-a-bitch up there." She gestured. " And you can't deny that you have grown to care for him, even if he never saw or heard of you."

" That is exactly why I cannot help him, however." Said Cole. " He does not know me."

" He can get to know you."

Suddenly, they heard a whir; the sound of one of Wyatt's probes. Cole and Billie hid behind a shack as the probes passed.

" Just get him out." Said Billie. " The Resistance will do the rest. Just get him out, because that's the only thing we can't do."

Cole stared at her.

oO

Getting past the demon guards was easy. Cole was no longer any entity they have come across before. They did not register his magic, nor his presence. But finding where they kept Chris was harder. Like most demons in Cole's time, these demons were foul and scatter-brained, and said everything except what Cole wanted to hear as he slipped through their ranks, invisible. Even Wyatt, when he finally found the man, had no words to say of his brother's whereabouts as he briefed his officers in the next attack. It seemed the brother was not even on the elder Halliwell's mind.

Perhaps the child was dead, just like the rest of his family. There was no one who could say for certain if Chris had perished or not. No one had the special link, no one had been his whitelighter—there simply were not enough left to assign him one. Cole was on a mission that could prove fruitless.

Turning the hallways, dark and gloomy, he finally came upon a staircase that looked different from the rest. A stench, that of filth and blood and sex, wafted stronger as he descended. There were many prisoners, most of them human, witches and elves and beings that had fallen prey to the dark lord and his minions. Chris was not in any of the cells.

He double checked. None of the forms matched. He could tell despite the bloodied bodies. He could free them—he had enough power to do so, but as Cole had told Billie before; he simply was no longer used to getting involved with anything in this life. He finally stopped looking for Chris and stared at the bodies wondering if demonhood had ever been as grotesque back in the days when he was Belthazor. _We simply hadn't been that strong._ He thought. _If we had been, we would._ Because after all, what is evil, but the cause of pain and suffering?

It was deep in these thoughts that he found Chris's cell. It was a huge block of metal jotting out of the wall. Cole had missed it at first because he had assumed it was part of the walls. He had bumped into the wall and heard an echo. In the dark room the sounds were muffled by the very air, stale and unmoving, but Cole could hear the resonance.

The other prisoners shifted but none of them had the energy or will to care that there was a strange sound. Cole looked at the prisoners, and waited to see if the guards would come. They did not. He shimmered into the cell.

Blackness everywhere, and a terrible heat. The smell of semen was strong, mixed with blood and vomit. Cole could see Chris's form despite the absolute absence of light. The boy was naked, his body limp and skin cracked and dry. Blood coated his body, his flesh pale under the scraped skin. Both legs were broken, his fingers and feet shattered, and all bore the marks of having been broken again and again. White caked the insides of his thighs, his abdomen, and the bottom half of his face. His eyes were half open but unseeing. At his mouth, foam bubbled, pink and ominous. The child was dying.

Cole had seen many horrible deeds in his life, but his stomach churned at the sight. He raced to the boy and gathered him in his arms. Chains locked Chris's neck, wrists, and ankles to the walls. Cole flamed them off. Alarms blared as soon as they released, but this did not matter. Cole was getting the boy out of there.

" Hang in there, kid." He whispered to the lifeless body, before they shimmered out.

oO

Whispers, gasps, cries of dismay. He woke to utter agony. Even with the whitelighter magic coursing through his body, he felt all his hurts as if they were being inflicted right then. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain gradually faded away, but he was unable to move. He had no strength.

" Chris?" He heard a soft voice say, and a warm hand take his own. " Chris, can you hear me?

_Who's Chris?_ He wondered, though he did not move.

" Chris, it's me, Billie."

_Who's Billie?_

_" He's still out." _He heard the voice say, sounding muffled and far away. _" Thank you, Cole. We owe you one."_

_" He'll need more than whitelighter magic." _He heard a man say.

He felt the hand leave his and heard someone stifle a sob.

_" He's only nineteen! Oh God, do you remember when you were nineteen? When I was nineteen? We were complete idiots! How could Wyatt do this to his own brother?"_

_" Wyatt is only twenty-one." _Said the man. _" And I think it is safe to say that we all know what he is capable of."_

_" Chris, it's Billie again. I'll stay here with you, okay? Just wake up soon. We need you."_

_Chris? Billie? Wyatt?_ He felt dizzy, and when that passed, heard no more. He had fallen unconscious.


	2. Lost and Wandering

Shadows Like Ghosts

Lost and Wandering

It did not take long for members of the Rsistance to realize their leader had forgotten everything.

Cole found this ironic. Considering they had used so much time and effort to get him to bring Chris back, claiming that the Resistance can do the rest, it seemed almost funny that all of the sudden they cannot do anything. He supposed it was to the boy's fortune that he had no memory of anything. He would not have to know what had transpired back in Wyatt's lair.

" What are we going to do?" One of the witches looked through one of the magic books. " There's got to be some spell to get him back!"

" There's no spell Sara." Billie said flatly. " I've looked through that book countless times. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way. People, stop panicking. There's a way to do everything."

They were sitting in the conference room, which was a dusty room with a long table that used to be polished and clean, but was now rotting at places and falling to pieces. Outside the murmur of other refugees droned on. Normally it was quieter, according to Billie, but with Chris in this state, everyone was worried.

There was a loud chatter suddenly. Cole, curious and bored, looked out. Chris was up and about, it seemed. Though nineteen, the stress and trauma of his adolescence stunted his growth slightly and made him small and thin. Clad in white, he looked like a frail angel.

" Chris! You should get back to bed." Said a wood nymph. " You need to recover your energy.

" I want to know what's going on." Said the boy, looking around.

Cole paused to wonder just how many of the Resistance knew Chris lost his memory. There were about five hundred at this base. Chris had set up, according to Billie, thirty bases around the world, each with about five hundred refugees and members. There had not been need for any more.

" Chris." He called, cutting through the chatter. The other members silenced, feeling wary of this new guest that they were neither familiar nor comfortable with.

Chris was too ignorant to care though. " Hi." He waved, and gave Cole a shy smile and a wave.

_He'll work his way into your heart._ An inner voice warned, even as Cole stepped forward to temporarily take the child under his wing. _Just like his aunt. Remember how Phoebe loved you but wanted you out of her life? It will be the same way with him. His kind cannot be with those like you. He'll break your heart and step on it like trash._

" Come with me." Said Cole. He passed by the child without touching him. The boy looked at the others, hesitating for a second, before following.

oO

" What's your name?"

" …Cole. Cole Turner."

The teen beamed at him. " You feel very familiar. Were we friends before, like with Billie?"

Cole flinched. How odd. He had never had physical contact with Chris before in the boy's life. If anything, the child should be afraid of him. Even if the sisters spoke to their sons about the past, they would hardly paint Cole in a positive light.

" We have never met before." Cole finally replied.

There was something strangely shrewed about the way the boy looked at him. " You look sad."

" Do I?" Cole summoned a smile. _You would be too, if you remember anything. _" I'm alright. You should get some rest."

" I feel like I've gotten lots of rest already." Said Chris. " It feels awful in here. Everyone's always so scared."

Ah, yes. Chris had inherited his aunt's empath abilities. No doubt, Cole thought, the boy had sensed he was lying, which explained the shrewd look.

" I can't be the leader." Chris was saying. " He sounds so amazing. I can't possibly do what he does."

Cole felt uncomfortable. " You'll be fine." He said awkwardly. " You _are _the leader. You were merely…hurt. But you'll get better."

" What if I'm hurt again?" Chris looked at him, his eyes wide and vulnerable.

How strange, to see Chris this way. He had grown up to be a very tough young man. Seeing his brother turn evil had shaken Chris so much that he was no longer afraid of anything else. He skillfully set up the Resistance, managed the foundations of building a successful refuge system for the good magical beings, and strategically built their defenses so that even if they could not overthrow Wyatt, Wyatt could not destroy them either. All this, done with courage and determination far greater than his age would imply. Perhaps his most prominent feature was that Chris knew how to read people, knew who to trust, how to trust them, and how to stay clear of those who were untrustworthy. He had mastered his empath skills far better than his aunt did. Even Wyatt could not read people as well as Chris could.

Perhaps all that skill had gone with his memories, but it still discomfited Cole to realize the boy was trusting him. Trusting _him._

_You will always be evil._

She was wrong, Cole had decided long ago. She had confused the idea of not being good with being evil, as so many good beings often tend to do. He could never be good, no matter how many good deeds he did. But he will not be evil. It might still not have been enough for her anyway, which was probably the whole point, but then, Phoebe was still wrong.

But was Chris right?

_Just for a while._ Cole found himself pleading mentally to whatever forces guided their fates. _Just a little while. That can't be wrong, can it?_ To pretend he was a good person. To pretend that he deserved this boy's trust.

" I won't let you get hurt again." He said. " Get some rest."

oO

" He is asleep?"

Cole started. Even in his long lifetime, he had never met an elf before. Wyatt's reign of terror had apparently affected their race as well.

" Well met, Belthazor." The elf bowed, having noticed his reaction.

" I am not Belthazor." Cole replied. " Belthazor is dead. I am Cole Turner."

" Well met, Cole Turner, then." The elf smiled grimly. " I am Sardo Sindolion."

Cole took a moment to note the other's appearance. He was brown-haired, fair-skinned like the rest of his race, and his eyes were a clear, deep blue. He had fine features, was slim and tall in figure, and wore a simple gray tunic and black trousers.

" You were not here when I brought him here." Cole remarked, turning unconsciously to block the elf's view of the door.

" I was retrieving supplies." Said the elf. " I had just arrived an hour ago and was told that Chris had returned.

" You were retrieving supplies even though your leader had been captured?" Cole asked.

The elf did not look apologetic. " We needed food." He said simply.

Cole sighed and took a moment to notice how around here, for some reason, he was not _hated._ Not like with the Charmed Ones. Perhaps they merely thought he was a lesser evil, but it was still strange to hold a conversation with someone who was not filled with loathing at the very sight of him.

A leprechaun waddled over to the elf. " We've unloaded everything."

Sardo nodded. " Understood."

The leprechaun then left the two without so much as a look at Cole.

Suddenly, shouts came from the front gate of the base.

" Whitelighter!" Someone shouted. " I need a whitelighter, _now!_"

Cole felt the jingling of orbs more than he saw them. " Oh my god," cried one of the whitelighters, " Hurry and let me at him!"

The base was suddenly a flurry of activity. " Where is Mara?" Someone demanded. " Where is she?"

Cole did not hear the answer, but then, perhaps there never was one. Someone burst down weeping, while several men cursed and spat.

The whitelighter then cursed, and stormed away. He went past Cole, who peered at the now lifeless body the angel had been trying to heal.

" What is happening?"

Cole turned around. Chris looked at him with wide eyes, face pale.

" Chris, go back to bed." Said Cole. " There's nothing you can do here."

" What's wrong with him?" Chris gestured at the dead witch.

" Chris, come on." Cole steered Chris away. " The sooner you get better, the sooner you can help."

A lie, but he hardly cared.

" Fucking assholes!" He heard someone yell behind him.

" I don't want to be alone." Chris said, not aware of how Cole felt startled by this. " I don't like being alone. It's scary and dark."

Scary. Chris would never use the word 'Scary'. " I'll stay with you. Will that be alright?"

" Yeah!"

Chris looked so happy, Cole thought. _Too bad he wouldn't think so when his memories return._ But for now, just as earlier, he could pretend that he deserved this.

oO

" What's going on?" Billie asked.

" Scouts returned. Two of them dead." Said Sardo. " Chris's state is not encouraging."

" Don't I know it.' Said the blonde witch. " But the Resistance members are taking it surprisingly well."

" They feel obligated to help him after all he has sacrificed to save them." Sardo said knowingly.

Billie sighed. " So what are we going to do in the meantime? We can't have Wyatt knowing that his brother is out of commission."

" You have been taking the lead since he was captured. You can continue doing so. And we also now have…Cole Turner, on our side." The elf glanced over to the closed door. " The odds have evened considerably."

" Cole Turner is but a shell of his former self." Said Billie. " Even magic-wise. While he has magic that can't be sensed, unlike the rest of us, he can't help us overthrow Wyatt any more than you can."

" But he does have different magic and he is someone Wyatt is not aware of." Sardo replied. " Not to mention, if I recall correctly, you had said he cannot be killed."

" That doesn't mean he is willing to stand in line of fire for us." Billie replied. " He was the Source. He was half-demon. And the Charmed Ones had hurt him a lot in their own way. It took me days, more than a week, even to get him to help Chris out. I'm not sure what we can say to motivate him more."

Silence fell.

" Well," Billie sighed, " We can't stand here lamenting all the time now can we? I'm just glad we got Chris out of there." She shook her head. " Hopefully he regains his memories before too long. In the meantime we should commence with the plan Chris had initiated two months ago."

" I know of no new updates." Said Sardo.

" No, but Yi might." Billie headed down the hall. " Come on, we can see what's been going on with the guerrilla while we've been distracted."

Yi, a mousy-looking fellow, looked up from his desk in the closet space they had cleared for his use.

" Hey Billie." He said, in a heavily accented English. " Scouts have sent in the reports for the defense rounds near the Quarter Base." He handed her the files.

Billie stared at the paper. " I'm not getting any of this."

" This column is the start time, this column is the end time."

" how on earth does that help? There's no difference between end and start times. There's no gap in defense."

" When exchanges take place," Sardo inputted, " The defenses weaken because their attention is taken away."

" Chris is way better at this than me." Billie took a deep breath. " Alright, I'll do my best."

oO

" Maybe it will help if I were told some of the things." Chris said. He should be resting, but the boy was too bothered by the distress of the other members of the Resistance. " Do you know anything about me? I mean, well, we've never met before, I guess…"

Cole sighed.

" Why are you always so sad?"

_This could get a bit annoying._ Cole thought, but he squeezed the witchlighter's hand. _The truth is usually the only thing that works with Halliwells._ He reminded himself. " I used to love your aunt."

He tried to consider whether he should correct himself. Used to…no, he will keep it.

" Oh." Chris seemed to understand then. _But you don't, not really. How can you?_ " I'm sorry sir."

_Sir?_ " That's fine." Cole had to smile then. " No hard feelings."

" You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to." Chris said quietly. " I'm not a child."

_Oh, but you are._ Cole thought. _You are very much a child._ " I don't mind."

Chris closed his eyes then, and soon the teen was asleep. Cole could sense his exhaustion. Despite everything, the boy was still fatigued. Whitelighter magic could not cure starvation.

_Stop looking at him._ The voice in his mind urged. _You know that as soon as he regains his memories, he will turn away from you._

Cole did not even bother arguing. He simply ignored the voice.

oO

Chris was so much better than she was at this, Billie decided. Even though she had worked with Chris for all of the years the Resistance had been established, it was definitely different to be working in his shoes. She had always admired him. Despite being many years younger than her, nearly eighteen years younger, Chris still was more capable in a lot of areas than she was. A distant memory surfaced, that of the Charmed Ones when they first met, how one of them had proclaimed Billie was a smart witch.

She was an idiot compared to Chris.

But Chris was not just smart. He was also the kindest person Billie had ever met. Even as a child, Chris had been the more compassionate of the two brothers, and when Wyatt's reign of terror began, Chris had never hesitated to risk his brother's wrath for those who needed help. He would often dive in line of fire, and come home laughing and joking even though Billie could see that his heart was shattered. He never burdened others with his problems. That Leo Wyatt would shred Chris's self-esteem to bits, and he would give other members of the Resistance a thumbs up, crack a joke, and solve other people's problems before his own. No one suffered more than Chris did, and yet no one brought as much laughter to this otherwise horrifying world. He lived in constant fear that his brotherly bond with Wyatt would one day turn him to evil, that his connection to the Twice-Blessed would endanger those he meant to save. It was a fear, a horror, none of the others could possibly share. And yet Chris did his best to bring joy to the bases. _Boost morale, among other things._ He would say. _We all need a break now and then._

" Thinking about Chris?" Askeda wood nymph, Tara.

" How does he get all this shit done?" Billie slammed the map down. " I'm amazed his brain doesn't explode."

" He's Chris." Said a witch, Charlie. " You've been in here a while. Sardo got some stuff down at the back from the loot. This time they got canned fruit."

" Ugh. I do need a break." Billie rose from her seat. " Fucking paperwork."

The canned fruit were good. Billie relished in the taste. She remembered that there used to be a time when she would sneer at the thought of canned fruit. It was so _ghetto_. But now, properly humbled, she was taking whatever she could get.

" Yo, where's Chris?" Asked one of the members.

" He's sleeping." Billie said.

" I'll lay out some for him then. What about that Turner guy, the one that saved him?"

" I'm giving him some fresh fruit." Said the wood nymph, working her magic on the canned slices. " As a thank you. He saved Chris's life."

" Go do that." Said another member.

Billie smiled a little, but her thoughts turned to the people who weren't saved, like the two members that were lost earlier that day.

" Where's John?" Asked Billie.

" He orbed off somewhere."

" He better not have left the base." Billie set down the fruit. " Can someone sense for him?"

" He didn't leave the base." Said another whitelighter. " He just orbed to his room."

" That better be true." Billie went back to her fruit. She felt lousy. Normally, Chris would go comfort the distraught family members, or the distraught whitelighters who weren't able to heal in time or override Wyatt's dark magic. It was why although there were many members in the Resistance for one man to handle, everyone knew Chris personally. No matter what, he always had time for someone who needed him.

Now that Chris is out of commission, she had to fill that role, but Billie was not good at this sort of thing. She looked down the hall where she knew the whitelighter was, but did not go to see him.

She was not Chris.

_Come back to us._ She prayed. _And soon._


	3. The Dark Lord

Shadows Like Ghosts

The Dark Lord

When it came to war of the minds, Wyatt was no match for his brother. In fact, when it came to fighting his brother, he did not even trust his own strategies, preferring instead to hear options explained to him from his advisors, who were much more skilled in the arts of combat. Despite being Twice-Blessed and capable of destroying hundreds of demons nearly at once, back when he and Chris were on the same side and their mother had been alive, Wyatt's power was evenly matched against Chris's plotting.

There used to be a time when Wyatt appreciated Chris's brains. He used to be as angry with his father as Chris had been hurt. How many times had Chris's quick thinking saved all of them? And yet Leo had eyes only for Wyatt. Wyatt would try to tell their father that Chris was special too, but that was hard to do when the bias was already there. Nothing Chris did was as good as Wyatt. Even if this were true, it still did not excuse the lack of attention. Chris may not be as good at doing whatever Leo thought he did, but he was as much Leo's son as Wyatt was. When Piper was killed, how dearly did both boys need their father—but Leo had time to spare for only one. _That_, not Piper's death, was what truly made Wyatt reject the side of Good. There he was, Leo Wyatt, the epitome of Good and Light, and yet he could not even afford the comfort Chris, who steadily sank deeper and deeper into suffering. The younger brother always knew he was weaker, that he was less remarkable, but if Leo's neglect had been rubbing it in his face, Piper's death had been a punch and Leo's further neglect had been salt on the wounds.

But what started out as an attempt to secure his brother's well-being became less about Chris and more about Wyatt himself. Lured by voices not actually his, he saw great potential in what he could become, in how he could shape the world. He would turn it into a paradise, for all beings, Good and Evil. As time went on, he became less concerned about turning it into a paradise for other beings and more concerned about making it simply a paradise for him. In less than six months, he no longer thought of other beings as living things. They were just annoying pests; if they did not work for him, they got in his way.

Before he knew it, he was facing off his own brother.

Fourteen-year-old Christopher Perry Halliwell had been a shy, self-conscious child and teen. Fourteen-year-old Christopher Perry Halliwell was an outspoken, assertive child and teen. Both had voices that still broke all the time, lanky frames from being in the middle of a growth spurt, and clumsy movements from bad coordination. He supposed that Chris could easily have changed within six months if Wyatt himself had, but he was not sure where that confidence, that courage, really came from. Chris was always brave, but he had always been passive, letting Wyatt take the spotlight because he thought Wyatt should. Perhaps Chris had taken on this stronger voice because the other Halliwell children had rallied around him, or maybe he simply had not anticipated that Wyatt would kill them all.

But even if those were the reasons, when the other Halliwell children died, Chris had not lost this new side of him. He escaped the Halliwell manor through that frustratingly quick thinking and Wyatt lost him. Several months later Wyatt learned that his own brother had set up a Resistance. Against him.

He had no qualms crushing this Resistance, and his brother along with it, but Chris proved to be more resourceful than Wyatt had ever anticipated. They could not find this Resistance. They found members, but none that knew anything, or were able to divulge, no matter what torture was inflicted. The Resistance grew slowly, but it was stable—an ever-present thorn on the side, crick in the neck, whatever small, yet annoying source of frustration that Wyatt was quickly learning to hate. And at the center of it all, his once beloved brother, now his mortal enemy.

oO

They caught Chris purely by accident. He had no idea what the Resistance was doing at the farm. The demons had discovered that the farm lay over a graveyard of dragons and the fossil fuel could be used for a new project Wyatt had established. It was top secret; only two of his top advisors knew of such a project. But perhaps Chris did not have to know that Wyatt had established the project. Fossil fuel had its uses for the empire, and Chris, with that god-forsaken intelligence of his, probably deduced that if Wyatt was not using the graveyard now, he would use it later. Dragon magic could be manipulated so that free will is erased from reality, if there was enough to be used, and a graveyard was like a gold mine of magic. The owners were dead, but the magic was not.

The Resistance members were as surprised to see the Empire soldiers as the soldiers were to see the Resistance. A bloody battle ensued. No doubt, Chris had not expected, even in his foresight, that Wyatt would send troops to claim the farm at this time. Their defense was pitiful. The demons brought Chris to Wyatt.

Wyatt knew Chris was terrified. Unfortunately, the worst thing Chris could do to spare himself was to act all proud and arrogant. _Righteous, morals, ethics, compassion—_it made Wyatt's blood boil. Chris had been his brother. He was willing to welcome Chris into the fold. But Chris was too stubborn to see the wisdom of his choice.

_" I'd rather suffer eternal agony then join your ranks, you shit-headed bastard!"_

_" Then you shall suffer that eternal agony you so prefer. Take him away. Oh, and have fun with him."_

And Wyatt had promptly forgot about Chris. Now that he had Chris in the prisons he could rip the Resistance apart, piece by piece. He did not really care that his brother was being tortured. He did not even care if his brother had died—he had expected that, actually. Demons were not known for self control, and while they were not the only ones who had access to the now helpless angel, there were certainly enough of them that the wiser of the evil ranks could do little to stop their bloodlust. He especially thought Chris had died when he felt Chris's side of their mental bond peak in despair and terror before snapping and becoming nothing. A void, where his brother had been. Had Wyatt still cared, he would have felt lost, but after so many years of loathing his brother's betrayal, he had merely felt strange.

oO

Who would have been able to slip through their ranks? The chains that imprisoned Chris in his cell had been combusted by no ordinary being. Really, Wyatt had been more concerned with who saved Chris than that Chris had been saved. He was mildly surprised that the younger man had been alive to be saved at all, but apparently the demons had more self control than he had given them credit for. Perhaps they had so much fun with him they wanted to keep him alive, but now Wyatt was faced with two problems. Who was strong enough to deal with the chains this way and slip through the security? And now that Chris is back with the Resistance, he was back to where he started. The lucky break had yielded nothing of consequence.

Except introduce someone they should be aware of.

" Find the seer." Wyatt ordered. " They would not be able to protect from her sight if they had physically entered this base. Bring her to me."

The seer, a beautiful woman clad in black, stepped into Wyatt's court in that calm elegant grace seers seem to share.

" My Lord." She bowed.

" You know what I called you here for." Wyatt went straight to business. " Tell me what you know."

" The one you seek," She replied, her dark eyes cloudy with vision, " Is neither angel nor demon, nor witch, nor poltergeist, nor human, nor ghost, nor spirit. In one lifetime he was Cole Turner. In another, he was the half-demon, half-human Belthazor. In yet another, he was the Source of Demons, and finally, an Avatar. But save for the foremost, all of these he is no longer."

" If he is none of these things," Wyatt asked, not the least surprised that there were Sources before him, but a little alarmed that this one would still exist, " Then what is he?"

" What he is cannot be defined by present terms." The seer replied. " His very existence is different from ours."

Wyatt considered this. " What does that mean?"

" It means that no earthly powers—not even yours, my lord, has much effect on him. However, he does have limited powers over earthly beings."

" Limited? What does that mean?"

" His powers have an effect." Said the seer. " Though not a strong one. But we cannot sense his magic, as it is different from anything in this reality."

" So he comes from another reality?"

" Yes and no." Said the seer. Wyatt would have lost his patience by now, but he realized that this could be hard to explain. " Cole Turner married the third Charmed sister, Phoebe Halliwell. Through strife and heartbreak he was rejected out of this existence and into another, where he watches from the fold."

" He has not acted before." Said Wyatt. " Or I assume he has not. Why is he starting now?"

" That, I had no power to see." The seer replied. " But perhaps, that is answer in itself."

_The Resistance._ No doubt, they had summoned this Cole Turner in order to rescue their pathetic leader. _Figures._ Even when they had little hope of Chris's survival. He should not be surprised, but he still was.

" He is neither Good nor Evil." The seer clarified.

"So he can still be turned to our side." Wyatt realized. " Is there any way to summon this Cole Turner to me?"

" There is." Said the seer. " However, while he still can be turned, it will not be easy."

" What do you mean?" Wyatt grimaced. " Is he one of those annoyingly neutral sorts?"

" No. But he has remained inactive for a long time." The seer explained. " To motivate him would require giving him what he wants."

" And what would that be?" Wyatt asked.

" That, I doubt even he knows." Said the seer. " And I hold no power of understanding the heart of a being who does not exist."

oO

Once upon a time Belthazor had been a proud demon. Perhaps this was merely overcompensating for his human half, but nevertheless, Belthazor had been proud.

Cole Turner emerged to Wyatt looking very much resigned. He was mildly surprised by his new environment. The Resistance had not protected Cole as it did its own members since Cole needed no such protection, but he did not expect Wyatt to know of him, let alone summon him. A look at the Seer told him all, however. She could not see events of Resistance members because of protection spells, but Cole had not entered Wyatt's lair with these spells, so she had been free to see him.

" Cole Turner." Wyatt stepped to him. " You are quite a piece of work."

A much younger Cole would have replied, " So I've been told," but this Cole was too resigned to his existence to say even that. He merely looked at Wyatt and kept his peace.

" Do you know who I am?" Wyatt asked.

Cole looked at him. " Better than most." He said.

Wyatt smirked. " Of course. Then you know why I summoned you?"

Cole hesitated. " I confess that I do not know that in particular."

Wyatt paused. " You know that the Resistance cannot win. The Empire has already won."

Cole had a feeling he knew where this was going. He said nothing.

" I can offer you anything you want."

" You cannot offer what you can't give." Cole replied, turning away.

" Is it Aunt Phoebe?" Wyatt guessed. " You want her back. I can resurrect her for you. It is not difficult."

Cole would have said that he wanted Phoebe's love, but nowadays, his mind was cloudy and his heart was numb. If he still loved Phoebe, it was no longer with that passion he used to feel. Phoebe used to drive him wild. But now he just felt solemn when he thought of her. Oh the life they could have had—but she was not willing to fight for it, and now, neither was he.

" There is nothing you can give that I would want." Cole restated.

" What did the Resistance offer, then?" Wyatt raised his eyebrow. " Good?"

Cole found himself laughing. " Hardly." He turned his head. Still, what could he say? " They gave me nothing." He finally answered. " Save the promise to leave me alone."

Which, he supposed, the Resistance had delivered. For all their troubles, they had never specifically asked him to do anything again. It was Cole himself who did not leave.

" So you do not intend to work for the Resistance." Wyatt pressed.

" I haven't before." Cole replied.

Satisfied with that answer, the Twice-Blessed waved his hand, dismissing him. " You may go if you wish, then."

Once upon a time Cole would have sneered at such an attitude. He had been invincible, more powerful than this Wyatt can ever hope to be, Twice-Blessed or not. Now he just felt amused, and obligingly vanished. But instead of returning to that realm between realities, Cole emerged back at the Resistance base, where one of the witches, Charlie, looked up at him in alarm.

" Hey you're still here?" Charlie blinked. " Thought you would have left by now."

Belthazor had done so many cruel things because of his human side. And Cole Turner had suffered so much pain because of his demon side. Life seriously would have been much simpler if he had been just one or the other. But then, when Wyatt captured Chris, if Cole had not been who he was, there would have been no one to save the boy. " Where is Chris?" He asked.

" Resting, I think." Charlie wrinkled his freckled nose. " So…what do you plan to do now?"

" I don't know." Cole shook his head. But he wanted to see Chris.

But down the halls he heard wailing. _" Mum…Mum…"_ Without the Book of Shadows there was no way to summon the Halliwell witches, and Wyatt has the book. Chris was remembering, sobbing and freaking out, while Resistance members tried to soothe him. Cole stood at the back and watched as Billie enveloped the boy in her arms.

" It's gonna be okay." Billie told Chris. " It's gonna be okay."

What was he even remembering? Cole was not sure. But Cole himself, was remembering the day Piper died. Fourteen-year-old Chris had not even opened his presents, and the cake had still been baking in the oven. He was too busy screaming for Leo and Wyatt to notice the smoke in the kitchen. But Leo and Wyatt had been out on a father-son trip, where they could not hear his calls, and Paige had been in the underworld with Phoebe slaying the latest demon.

Cole had watched Piper die the same way he watched Phoebe and Paige die later on.

" Chris." He called to the younger brother. " Chris, come here."

And to th surprise of the Resistance, Chris withdrew from Billie and latched on to Cole. " It hurts." The boy moaned. " Make it stop hurting."

Cole just closed his eyes and held the teen close to him, thinking about how different Chris was from Wyatt.


	4. Hunger

Shadows Like Ghosts

Hunger

They were running out of food by the end of the month. Billie knew she had to organize another trip to loot for more resources, but with Wyatt's empire growing stronger each day, this was getting increasingly risky.

Yi, who was in charge of the scouts for this base, presented her with a layout of one potential farming area where security was a bit lax. It held enough resources for about two months, but the Resistance could only take a month's worth of supplies each time they went out. Chris had mentioned that if the Resistance were to persevere, they need to actively fight back. There were places they needed to occupy, people they needed to recruit. Charlie was in charge of helping Chris plan out the possible areas for conquest, while Sardo, the eloquent elf, was in charge of finding possible recruits. Unfortunately, with Chris gone, the Resistance was set back in their plans, and every delay makes the mission ever so much harder.

And now with Chris back, Chris is still gone. Despite recovering the memory of his mother's death, it seemed the witchlighter had no further plans to remember anything else.

" Give him time." Said Sardo. " One does not survive Wyatt Halliwell's wrath without wounds. He would wait for any of us." And this was true.

" How does he do these things?" Billie sighed. " I watched this kid grow up. Watched him set up the Resistance. But all of this still boggles the mind."

" I am really sick of reading maps." Yi exclaimed. " I need a break. And a beer."

" Don't we all." Billie muttered. She lifted her hand to pull her hair out of her face, but stopped as she saw the back of her hand. " Ew." She said. " I'm getting old."

" It happens." Yi said with disinterest. " So do you think this would be a good place?"

" It's as good as things get." Billie replied. " We'll need the potions for going to the Square base. Get Helen, Brian, and Vincent to assemble their teams, since they haven't gone for a while, but I need everyone there fore the briefing because this is something I need to get across all the members. I want them here in half an hour and we'll leave in two hours, if not before."

" Wait, you're going too?" Yi asked.

" Yeah…" Billie frowned. " Why?"

" We cannot risk losing you to Wyatt's forces." Sardo replied. " Especially not with Chris in the state he is in. You are the only person to know all of Chris's plans."

" _Damn._" Billie swore. " Alright. I'll stay back for this round, but I'm going to get you in on the details as well, Sardo." She frowned. " I will meet them in half an hour to brief them on course of action. It may not be as well guarded as the rest, but it is still well-guarded and we have to be smart about this."

oO

" Dude," Charlie sat down next to Cole at the table in the conference room, " Totally respect Chris for dealing with athame shit. Those were fucking stab wounds that take weeks to heal and he often has to take care of three at a time. Just taking care of Chris is wearing me down to the quick and he isn't even constantly in pain."

" You had to shelter his mind, which is something Chris did not need to do." Said Cole absently.

" Yeah, but still. Maybe it's just that he's young. Man, when I was a teen, I could climb the Rocky Mountains without magic." Charlie frowned. " Say, I've been wondering. What did you say to him that other day that had him all trusting of you all of the sudden?"

" You're saying I shouldn't be trusted?" Cole asked, though his tone was not accusing.

" It's not that." Charlie folded his arms, looking perplexed. " It's just that we've never met you, you know? According to Billie, Chris never met you either. But he seems to take to you more than the rest of us and we've been with him for years."

" I don't know." Cole did not feel like explaining. He would not know what to say anyway—he did not know why Chris trusted him any more than Charlie did. " You'll have to ask Chris. No doubt, in this case, he'll tell you."

" Egh, I'll spare the kid." Charlie sniffed. " You know, it's weird thinking of him as a kid all of the sudden. Impossible not to, lately, but when he was up and about organizing stuff, he doesn't seem nineteen."

Cole smiled a little.

" And I swear, even if he does have amnesia, that guy can still do some weird shit." Charlie glanced at Cole. " You think he's a genius? We kind of try not to think about it but I swear, this kid would've gotten Nobel Prizes by now. Plural."

" That would be stretching it, if I understand the concept of Nobel Prizes correctly." Cole replied. He really had not intended to actively converse with Charlie, but the freckled man was somewhat charming. " What did he do?"

" Trounced my ass when we were covering the military maps that Yi set out for us." Charlie shook his head. " One two three! He didn't even know what the demons were capable of doing but he still managed to get the general idea. And he followed his old pattern too, of setting up wood nymphs in the forests surrounding the fort. I swear, if Chris hadn't been around I would never have learned that wood nymphs could actually kick butt. But this kid picked that up too, despite having forgotten a lot of what he learned about magic. We played two rounds for the Quarter base. He first played the demons than trounced my ass and then pointed out ways to go around his defenses like a pro. Aren't amnesiacs supposed to, I don't know…not be pros, anyway?"

Cole said nothing. He had no comment.

" Just to clarify," Charlie looked at him intensely, " You…_are _staying at least until Chris gets better, right?"

_Why not._ " Yes." He replied.

" Good." Charlie seemed pleased. " Nice to see him have a father figure." He rose from his chair. ' I gotta go see if Billie is done with the looters."

_Father figure?_ Cole felt like he had been punched in the gut. His mind inadvertently turned to the thoughts of the child he and Phoebe should have had. There never was a day when he had not thought of that child as he watched Phoebe with her new family and her daughters, but after Phoebe's death, as the years passed, he stopped thinking about it. _Ironic that it is _Chris _who should remind me now,_ Cole thought, as he sat in the now empty conference room.

Despite knowing that he would only get more hurt in the end, Cole found himself fantasizing about what life would be like if Chris really were his son. It was dangerous, cultivating this illusion. He had steadily lost hope and interest in everything in the world. Even now, he was not sure why he helped Chris in the first place, when he had no reason to rise out of his gloom. It was all only going to go back the way it was. Chris would reject him just like the Charmed Ones, and Cole would go back to watching and not doing. Watching, because he could do no less, and letting things happen because he simply did not care anymore.

Or did he? He was not sure. Why would he be wishing, that oppressive fervent wish, that Chris had been his son, ever since Charlie spoke the words " father figure"? Definitely, he would not have made the same mistakes as Leo. Chris was a hundred times the man Wyatt could ever hope to be. All that fatherly attention wasted on the wrong son.

Cole laughed. He supposed it was funny after all, that even though the Charmed Ones had been adamant about the his evil, their precious Bearer of Excalibur, Twice-Blessed Holy Half-Angel ended up being more evil than Belthazor ever could. For all their self-righteousness, the Charmed Ones were horrendously wrong this time around.

oO

" If we dig underground," Billie was telling the looters, " There is a steel pipe that goes out of the fort. That is the sewage. There are guards in their garbage system, but the sewage leads to the plumbing. The walls are thinner here," She tapped the blueprint, " Because of the pipe network. It is hollow enough at this wall that people can actually fit through. Guards are often stationed here and here," She tapped the two sides, " About four feet away from this wall, but they do not have easy view of this corner and it is also locked in so that you can afford to make a tiny bit of noise as you are breaking through. At five pm, the demons make their rounds. You are to wait until the rounds pass by this room, which you can hear with this device," She held up the crystal, " Which amplifies their footsteps. Once they pass, kill these two guards and you will be free to make your way down to the cellar. You have until seven thirty to load everything in your bags before the guards turn around again. Once you are ready, there is only one way out: the way you came."

The looters looked at each other. One-way-out missions were always much more difficult, with a high chance of failure and death. Billie knew what they were thinking.

" The guards will stop at the cellar at seven thirty sharp, which means you have to get the hell out of there before then. Go back up the hall, there should not be any guards except the two that you killed. Exit through the pipe network, and remember to patch up the wall before you leave. Now, there is a second part to this."

This caught the looters off guard. Usually these missions simply involved retrieving supplies. It was dangerous, but straightforward. What second part could she be speaking of?

" I need two of you to go undercover to replace those guards." Billie looked across the room. " This is the last base we know of where security is not as tight. If they catch whiff of our intentions they will buff up security here as well and there will be no way to get resources at any of the bases. " It is absolutely crucial that you maintain this cover so that the Resistance can get more supplies in the future. Your mission would be to maintain appearance of norm at all times such that the base diverts suspicion. If they count the supplies and find them short, find a way to frame some other demon. If you are dispatched elsewhere, your mission is complete. If you are temporarily dispatched to kill Resistance members, do what you have to do to maintain appearances." She held up two vials. " These potions will allow the Resistance to monitor your life force. If you are discovered and your heart rate increases we will be alerted and the maps here will show your positions. This will tell us if the base is still viable for looting. Finally," She lifted an athame, " We will carve a tattoo into your non-writing arm. If there are any developments, such as a change in the system, you can write on this arm with your finger and we will receive the message here." She looked at all of them. " Any volunteers?"

oO

Chris was very pleased with himself. Charlie had told him that he had helped out a lot, and being so sheltered and prohibited from doing anything due to his condition, it was the best thing someone could tell him. Everyone at the base was so sad, some were resigned and others bitter and even more were just plain stressed. He wanted to do something to relieve the tension in the atmosphere. And who knew that playing a mock battle with a bunch of plastic toy soldiers on a dusty map would be considered useful? He did not know precisely where his military knowledge came from, but everything felt so natural to say, and from Charlie's gasps and groans of realization, it seemed the other man was impressed.

" Aiyah!" He heard someone lament. " Spies on a looting mission? This is bad."

" They're going at the same time which I'm not happy about." Said the elf Chris recognized to be Sardo. " In these cases the less people involved, the better. We'd need two extra members to spy since they can't carry any of the magical pouches to store the supplies. It only increases the risk."

" But until Chris's farms are properly set up we can't do anything and the supplies are running dangerously low. And his farms only resolve the food issue." Said the man Chris remembered was called Yi. His funny accent made his words a bit difficult to understand. " We can't really afford to wait."

" This might be a suicide mission." Sardo nodded. " And we often conduct suicide missions."

Sensing the grim moods of the two of them, Chris withdrew to the wall as they passed down the hall. Another thing he could not help.

_" Mom! Dad!" " Mom!" " Wyatt, please heal them!"_

_" I'm sorry cuz. I didn't come here in time. But it will be alright. I am the master of the Halliwells now, and I'll take care of all of you."_

Chris shook his head, feeling the chill coursing down his spine. They told him that he was the leader of a Resistance against a Lord Wyatt, but something was off about the explanation—they had not told him everything. He was not certain why he felt a deep paralyzing fear whenever he tried to think about it. Leaders should not be afraid of who they were fighting against! But he was terrified. And why would Wyatt heal any of the witches? He was supposed to be evil—and also, why would he be the master of the Halliwells unless he is one?

_He is one!_ Chris realized then. _A cousin maybe._ He clenched his fists in distress. He had called one of them "cuz". Maybe…

Twelve Resistance members appeared at the end of the hall. They did not see Chris—they were busy strapping the magic pouches Sardo had mentioned onto their waists or backs. Two more members, who did not carry pouches, followed after the first group a moment later. They headed down the hall muttering about rats in sarcastic tones, but Chris could feel their anxiety.

" Cole!" He heard Billie exclaim. " You're still here!"

A pause. " Everyone has been saying that. I suppose I have overstayed my welcome."

" What? No! It's just I thought you would go back to wherever you mope around in. No, you're definitely welcome to stay around as long as you like. Can help out too, if you want?"

Chris sensed mild amusement, but no laughter. " I merely wish to see Chris recover. I do not intend to do anything else."

" Well, you're no trouble, and the kid likes you. About time he has a _real _father figure."

Another pause, while Chris, confused, peeked from behind the wall. " People have said that too. I have no wish to assume the position of father figure."

" Not saying you have to, nor that you must try." Said Billie. " But if it really discomfits you, I won't say that again. Where is Chris?"

" I don't know. Perhaps sleeping, as usual."

" No, that is not usual." Billie chuckled a little. " But I know what you mean. Do you want some water? It's the one thing we have plenty of, other than dust and dirt and filth. Chris had the foresight to secure groundwater for us and it actually tastes pretty good."

" No thank you." Cole sounded a little stiff. " I am not thirsty."

Chris turned away, feeling strangely hurt, a deep kind of hurt that seemed to pierce his heart and make his eyes sting with tears. A ghost of a memory swept through his mind, of longing, of expectations shattered, and finally the resignation that he could never get what he desperately wanted, _needed. He doesn't want to be my father. I'm not as special. He doesn't love me as much as he loves…_

The name escaped him, but the feeling was still there. He escaped from the hall to his room where all was quiet and still. He was not sure why he felt pained. It was not as if Cole had been anything but a friend lately, and he was not even supposed to have known this man prior to losing his memories. But when Cole finally came to his room to check on him, Chris could not summon his usual smile, or look the other in the eye.

oO

Fourteen members went out on the looting/undercover mission. None returned, even by ten-o-clock. The parchment that was supposed to carry the messages from the spies remained blank.

" I don't understand this." Billie stared at the map, where the life signature of the spies glowed, indicating they were alive and in position. " They should be back by now. But if something happened, why aren't we getting any messages?"

" Either no opportunity or no knowledge." Said Yi. " They could have been caught outside."

Scout report came at midnight, and Yi delivered the news to Billie. " They were caught."

" Were they captured alive?" Asked Billie, praying that the members were all dead.

" All of them." Yi said solemnly. " They have all but the spies."

A message was on the parchment when they next checked. It said, _Looters were discovered once left. All security doubled for this base._

" We've lost our food source." Billie sighed. " And we're running out of food. In less than a week, it will all be gone." She looked at the other members. " We're in trouble."


	5. The Trigger

Shadows Like Ghosts

The Trigger

" I know we promised not to ask any more of you." Said Billie. " But we do need the Book of Shadows and it would be much easier for you to get it."

Cole closed his eyes, thinking that he should have seen this coming. He really should not have agreed to the first mission. After the first, will come another, another, and another, just one more and then just another more…it never ends.

" Perhaps you should try actually telling him things." Said Cole bitterly. " Instead of sugarcoating everything because he is too delicate to handle things right now."

Billie was tired. " It's not like we sugarcoated much and you know it." She snapped. " We don't have food. Chris will starve like everyone else. Are you going to watch him die just like you watched Phoebe?"

Cole looked away. " What makes you think I'd care?" He asked. " I was able to let Phoebe go. She was the love of my life."

Billie was silent for a while. She then wordlessly turned around and walked away.

Cole sighed when she was out of earshot. He headed down the hall to see Chris, knowing that a period of suffering will soon follow once the food runs out. With any luck, Chris will recover his memories before then, but even so, organization requires time.

If the Resistance base was fortunate, Chris would be able to save them all before someone dies of hunger.

" _If he's not going to help what is he still doing here?" _Resistance members whispered to each other. _" What's his problem anyway?"_

_" No will to do anything my ass." _Said some. _" Yeah. He has the will to walk around here watching us starve. That's some loss of will alright."_

" Chris?" He called to the boy sitting on the bed, swathed in blankets in the chilly room, reading a book whose cover had been torn off. " Hey. How are you doing?"

" I'm okay." For some reason, lately Chris had been unable to look at Cole. _Does he suspect?_ Cole wondered, but could not bear to find out for sure. He had a feeling he would not like the answer. Really, this was the beginning of the end of their relationship, he could tell. Chris was beginning to realize Cole's true nature, and was starting to doubt him.

" Okay." Cole said awkwardly. He had no idea how to deal with the teen. His own feelings were all messed up. He inhaled slowly. " You'll tell me if you need anything?"

The boy nodded solemnly.

Cole tried to focus on the fact that Chris had nodded without hesitation, rather than that the boy had looked miserable as he did it. He turned around and closed the door, not sure what else to do.

" Cole Turner."

Cole started, before turning round. " Sardo." He greeted, a little surprised. " Did you wish to speak with him?"

" I wanted to speak with you, actually." The elf replied. " Billie told me of your reply."

Cole had not lost _all _of his wit. " You believe your superior tongue could talk me into agreeing when I had refused before."

" No." Sardo answered. " Come, good sir. Let us take a walk."

oO

" I know the story between you and the Charmed Ones." Said Sardo. " Or this was at least what I have been told. You fell in love with the third Charmed sister and rejected your evil nature in the hopes of winning her heart. What puzzled me is how she refused you despite loving you in return."

" What can I say," Cole replied sadly, " I was not good enough." _Pun intended._

" You have done many good deeds." Said Sardo. " Such that your evil is not to be blamed in the latter years after your resurrection. Did you do something to convince them of your evil nature?"

" I did many things." Cole replied simply. He really did not want to talk about this. " Is there a point to your line of questioning?"

Sardo stopped walking. " I have lived a long time, Cole Turner." He said. " Much longer than you. A being like you does not lose hope because one woman rejected him."

" She was an incredible woman." Cole said quietly.

" It was more than her rejection." Said Sardo. " It was her unwillingness to forgive, was it not?"

Cole started walking again, but Sardo's next words stopped him. " Chris may have forgotten much, but he would not trust someone who does not deserve to be trusted."

" Chris does not trust me anymore."

" How do you know?"

Cole turned around. " He has closed me off."

" Chris wanders the base at will." Said Sardo. " It is likely he heard something and misunderstood. He is not afraid of you. He is hurt, and lacks the ability to hide it. However, you will never learn the cause if you keep avoiding him."

Sometime later, Cole will figure out why this elf had taken such an interest in his relationship with Chris, but for now, Sardo's words had implied a possibility that he could not ignore. He swept past the elf as he returned to Chris's room, though he had to pause before the door to collect himself before knocking.

" Come in." He heard Chris say. The boy sounded puzzled. No doubt, he sensed Cole's feelings from behind the door.

" Hey." Cole said nervously. " Can we talk?"

It was the first time in a long while Chris looked him in the eye. The boy was confused. " Sure…" He replied, setting his book aside. His face bore an anxiety similar to Cole's. No doubt the boy felt his own anxiety.

Cole closed the door. " Do you trust me?" He asked.

Chris paused. " Yeah." He frowned. " Why?"

Direct was probably better. " Why are you acting so strange all of the sudden?" Cole began. " You haven't been able to look me in the eye ever since…ever since the loot."

Chris's amnesia made the boy honest. " I thought you didn't like me anymore."

Cole was flabbergasted. " What gave you that idea?"

Chris twisted his blankets nervously. " I don't know." He looked a bit self-berating. " I heard you tell…Billie…that you didn't want to be a father figure to me. And…I just thought that you did…at first, but you don't, and I don't know why it bothers me but…I'd like having you as a father figure."

Cole stared. _Kid has amnesia. Don't get excited. Once he recovers his memories he'll know what you are and he'll turn away from you._ But then Sardo's words came back to him. _" Chris may have forgotten much, but he would not trust someone who does not deserve to be trusted."_

No doubt Chris had remembered something of his past, how that idiot Leo Wyatt had neglected him, but Cole was still amazed that out of all the kind people in the Resistance, Chris had chosen him to look to as the father figure.

It was dangerous, Chris's new inability to lie, or at least hide some of his feelings. But Cole found himself grateful that he was able to learn what he wanted to know.

" Oh." Cole said, and his mind raced as the mental voice whispered, _Don't do anything stupid Cole Turner, you can never hope to replace his father._ But the urge was too strong. " I…I want nothing more to be a father figure to you."

It was so strange, to finally say that. He felt like a weight had lifted off his chest, as he said this, and felt his heart lift more when Chris looked at him in the eyes with a new hope.

" Really?" Asked the boy, his eyes wide. " Then why did you tell Billie that you didn't want to be?"

_Because you have amnesia right now._ Cole thought. _And there's no telling how you would react once you recover your memories._

_ He would not trust someone who does not deserve to be trusted._

" I was scared." Cole confessed." I didn't know if you wanted me."

Chris got off the bed and went over to him, hugging the taller man. " Don't be sad." Said the boy. " Everyone's so sad. But we're alive and as long as we're alive, there is hope."

Cole froze at this, wondering if it was the old Chris, the Chris that was the tough leader of the Resistance, saying this, or the naive Chris that had no memory of suffering and can only sense it in others. In the end, however, it did not matter. Sardo's words resonated in his mind. The child was still Chris, even without most of his memories, and at the very core of his being he trusted Cole. That has got to mean something…right? Cole had watched Chris grow, and even though he had never dared to care for the boy, standing here, with the boy openly embracing him, Cole finally allowed himself to give in to the longing he had harbored for so many years. To dare love someone and hope he is loved in return.

oO

" I'm going to get the supplies." Cole announced to Billie.

Billie dropped the stack of maps in shock. " You are?" She asked, almost stupidly.

" If you still want me to." Cole replied.

" Are you kidding?" Billie beamed, the first true smile in a long while. " I had no idea what to do. You'd save our lives, Cole."

She did not ask what changed his mind, since it ultimately did not matter so long as there was food for the refugees.

" Give me the pouches." Cole said. " I can bring them back myself."

" …" Billie paused. " I'm sure you can carry them back, being weightless and all," She said cautiously, " But it will take time. Are you sure it is safe?"

" I have no fear of being detected." Cole replied. " Just give me the pouches, list of what I need to get, tell me where to go and I'll get everything for you."

He knew that Billie was wondering what had changed his mind, but was not in the mood to explain. In truth, he felt giddy, and was unsure how to deal with it. It was so strange to so actively do anything, to _want _to actively do something. He could hardly wait to get the supplies. Getting the supplies meant saving Chris, meant that the Resistance members would have food. Scratch that—he did not really care about the rest of the Resistance members. Once upon a time he might have, but now, Chris was his only interest, his only focus.

_You are such a fool. The boy is not even himself, and here you are, all hopeful over what is likely a lost cause._

Billie gave him the map of the same base they had tried to loot before. He knew it was probably hard for her to grasp the fact that Cole could go to any base they wanted, even if she had known he was able to slip past Wyatt's personal defenses.

" Do you need any help?" She asked. " Someone can go with you to load the supplies faster."

" I don't need to do things faster." Said Cole. " One hour, two hours, three hours, it is all the same in the end. They won't catch me, and no one is going to die if I am an hour later in returning."

The Resistance was a noisy with the commotion. They were excited. With the food running low, they had been anxious about what to do next. Cole had been their lucky break. There was relief, there was hope of relief, there was the fear of relief—all mixed into the pool of refugees. Chris came out, also excited, though he did not understand why. No one had told him that the food had been running low.

" What's going on, Cole?" He asked, when he saw Cole grab twelve pouches and made them disappear into thin air. " Are you going somewhere exciting?"

Cole stared at him, dumbfounded. " Well, I am heading out." He managed. " There is something I need to do."

" Oh." Chris grinned, as the excitement around him affected his mood as well. " When are you coming back?"

" Soon." Said Cole. Then, for a good measure, he added, " Don't worry."

This had the opposite effect of what he intended. " Should I be worried?" Chris blinked, his expression falling and becoming nervous. " How soon is soon?"

Amnesiac or not, Chris was still too smart for his own good. " No, I'll just be gone for a few hours." Said Cole. " I need to stuff these pouches with…things. And that takes time. All I meant to say was…" What did he mean to say? " Behave."

_What the heck?_ Cole mentally chastised. _That made no sense at all._

Chris seemed overly pleased by this. Perhaps he remembered, in some form, how Leo had never said this to Chris but always to Wyatt, because his father had quite frankly, never cared what Chris did with himself.

" Okay." Said the boy. " I promise."

The Resistance members found this both troubling and amusing. Amused, because this was a side of Chris they never thought they would see, but troubled, because this was not how their leader should behave, especially in these dark times. Cole gave Chris a pat on the shoulder.

_He'll turn away from you in the end._

_No he won't._ Cole convinced himself. _Chris is still an empath. He still has his powers. And if he is willing to trust me now, he will learn to trust me later, even if at first he tries to reject me._ Feeling a fire in his veins, that of determination which he had not felt in years, Cole looked at Billie, nodded at the woman, and shimmered away.

oO

Billie, feeling somewhat secure about their present state, now that they had the indestructible Cole providing food for them, thought it was time she took a break from leading the Resistance and try to get its _real_ leader to remember something.

" You really liked math." She told him. " You were doing trigonometry when you were twelve, which was insane. If Wyatt hadn't taken over, you probably would have been a math major. You were gonna go to high school the year your mom died, and you were looking up their math team once and was all excited about how the math team won all these championships."

Tara the wood nymph suddenly entered. " Billie," She said, " There was a flood in the east wing."

" Oh no." Billie stood. " How bad is the damage?"

" Some of the seeds have been watered." The east wing was the storage center for the grain and seeds the Resistance had been planning to use to grow their own food, when looting was no longer possible. " We're going to have to plant them."

" Are the gardens ready?" Billie asked.

" Part of it is, according to the fairies." Tara replied. " But we're going to need help bringing them up there and planting them as soon as possible."

" Is there enough room in the gardens to plant the seeds that got wet?" Billie asked.

" There should be." Said Tara.

" I'm sorry Chris." Billie turned to the boy, who was staring at the two, wide-eyed. " But stories will have to wait. I'll be right back, okay?"

" Wait!" Chris rose. " Can't I help?"

Billie stared at him. " I don't see why not." She answered, a little surprised that Chris would offer, and even more surprised that she had instinctively expected him to stay put. " Let's go then."

Chris practiced his telekinesis as he helped the others unload the stocks. The other members entertained him by telling him stories of some adventures in the past, like the first time Chris tried to open the pouch full of supplies and nearly got buried under everything that fell out, or how he accidentally swallowed ecstasy, mistaking it for aspirin, and went around the base quite high and no one had been certain what was wrong with him.

Hearing these stories made Chris feel a lot better. At first he thought he had been this perfect leader who always knew what to do or say, but hearing these stories made him realize that whoever he had been, he had not been perfect. He had made mistakes, and these Resistance members had taken it in a stride.

" This is not enough food for twelve people, but it will do." Said Billie, as they worked. " And this time around we can afford to probably be a little careless with how much we eat. It's a good thing this part of the garden is done."

The fairies were not helping them. They were busy working at the other side of the garden, which was barren ground. The farm was a good two hundred acres. About a year ago, Chris had discovered this piece of land, and instantly commanded all the spells that hide and protect this place to be set up as soon as possible. No one at the time could see the reason for this, until Chris explained to Billie that this land could be used as a garden, with a bit of magic and planning. Eventually, he hoped, the Resistance would not depend so much on the Empire for its supplies, but become a thriving, autonomous collective of its own.

" What time is it?" Billie asked. When told, she muttered, " Cole should be back soon."

They sensed a shimmer of light, and turned around, expecting Cole, but it was…Leo.

" Leo." Billie stared. She thought Chris had blocked Leo away from the Resistance, but apparently the teen still harbored the fruitless hope that one day his father will come around. She instinctively moved to block his view of Chris. " What do you want?" She asked coldly.

The members had stopped what they were doing when Leo had arrived. The man looked very uncomfortable, which was not strange, as everyone was staring at him accusingly.

" I need to speak with Chris." He said.

" You can speak to me." Billie replied, her tone holding no room for negotiation. " I am acting leader of the Resistance until Chris recovers. _What do you want?_"

Leo blinked, as if surprised. From behind Billie, Chris peered at him, feeling nervous, though he could not fathom why. There was something very familiar about the man, and looking at him made Chris feel strangely painful and angry, but he was more confused than anything and stood where he was, staring.

Leo looked unsure of how to begin. " I need the help of the Resistance." He said.

" Go to hell." Billie said instantly. " We're not going to help _you_. How _dare _you! All these years, you haven't given a rat's ass about us, and now you're asking for _our _help? You can go away and continue to find yourself and think about how _you went wrong _with Wyatt and leave us in peace. We've enough on our hands already."

Leo gritted his teeth. " I must speak to Chris. This concerns his brother." His eyes turned to Chris, who had been wondering, _I have a brother?_ " Chris, come here. I need to talk to you."

" Chris, don't listen to him." Billie snapped. " He's not your father. He lost the right to it long ago."

At those words, it was as if a switch had been flipped. A whirlwind of memories rushed into Chris's brain like a bullet —angels—Elders—Billie, babysitting him as she had said before—Mother—Aunts Phoebe and Paige—Melinda—Hope—Henry—Father—Brother—Wyatt! Feeling sick, he crumpled to the ground as his legs folded under him, gasping for air. The events of all the years of working in the Resistance, the tears, the hate, the betrayal, the sheer terror and exhaustion, it overwhelmed him so that the world began to spin. And then he was being cradled, and someone was shouting his name—no, many people were shouting his name.

" You!" Billie flung her powers at Leo, who disappeared into a flurry of orbs before reforming. " Get out! _Get out! Get out!"_

Leo did not immediately go, but when other members also began attacking him, he orbed. Billie turned to Chris, who was still on the ground, being cradled by another Resistance member. Her vision blurred with tears. She hurried to the teen. " Chris? Are you alright? It's me, Billie. He's gone now, it's okay now. You're gonna be okay."

" I'm fine." Chris groaned, shaking his head. " Ugh. I feel like someone hammered my head!"

Something about the way he spoke made everyone pause.

Chris wiped at his face as he got to his feet. He was a little unsteady, and his cheeks still glistened, but his eyes were the same sharp eyes that Billie had known all her life, but was absent from him when he had lost his memory.

" I knew I should have blocked him." Chris sighed. " He hasn't bothered to come for years. I thought he wouldn't care to come down here."

The Resistance members were silent. Chris had returned.

Cole shimmered in then. " I put the supplies in the East Wing since Charlie told me to." He began. " And—" He stopped when he realized that something was off.

Chris was still wiping his face. " Thanks Cole." He managed. " We owe you one."

Cole stared at him speechlessly.

" Where's Yi and Charlie?" Chris went on, blinking his eyes. They were puffy from the tears that had spilled when the memories first hit.

" Down at the office." Said Billie, also at loss for words. " Are you okay?"

" Yeah, I'm fine." Said the boy. " I'm gonna get a drink of water and meet up with you guys. I have some recollection of what you folks were doing but I just want to catch up fully. Can you tell Charlie and Yi to meet up with me in the conference room?"

" …Yeah. Billie stared. " Sure…"

" Alright." Chris nodded, before orbing out.

The Resistance members stared at each other. " He's back!" Said one, still in shock.

As the rest of them started cheering and slapping each other on the back, Cole stood rooted to the spot. Chris did not seem surprised to see Cole, but now he was back. And the boy was going to learn who he really was and what he really was. Despite his earlier promise to himself to not give up on Chris, even if the boy rejects him at first, a paralyzing fear had taken hold.

_It's over._ The voice whispered in his mind, as panick overwhelmed his senses. _It's going to be just like Phoebe. This is the end._

It was with great difficulty that he responded to Billie's calls to head back to the base.


	6. Nightmare

Shadows Like Ghosts

Nightmare

" Did we destroy the graveyard?" Chris asked, as he gulped down the cold water.

" Yes." Said Billie, looking at him in concern. " We destroyed the graveyard. Wyatt doesn't have it. Chris, are you sure you are up for this?"

" I've been out for a month." Chris replied sharply. " Even if I'm not up for this, I have to be. There is one other place we have to take over and we have to take over soon. Wyatt has not made any conquests lately, has he?"

" According to scout reports, he hasn't made any conquests. He has merely been redistributing his ranks."

" That's good. We have to get to El Dorado. We take over that place, Wyatt can never hope to eliminate us."

" El Dorado?" Billie stared. " How are we supposed to take over _there_? The ancient magic around that place makes it impossible to enter!"

" Not impossible." Chris shook his head. " I figured out a way to get through, before the graveyard mission." He took another gulp of water. " We just need to get a whitelighter to use the right password and we're through."

" The right password?" Charlie glanced at Yi. " And do we know the right password?"

Chris nodded, but did not reply further. " We need to assemble a team as soon as possible. Billie, Charlie, I need you to go to the other bases and tell them each to get me two hundred members, including ward-builders. We're going to assemble in the Red Base. If we have El Dorado, we have yet another haven and we will also have an large supply of magic that we can use to defend against Wyatt."

" Will El Dorado's magic be able to defeat Wyatt?" Yi asked.

" Of course not." Chris replied. " But it would make it too difficult for Wyatt to overwhelm us. Hopefully, as the years go and the Resistance grows, we can establish ourselves firmly and maybe overthrow his reign, but for now we need to concentrate on actually conquering the place. If Wyatt's forces get there first, we're doomed. Alright?"

" We're on it." Billie nodded, more comfortable now that she was receiving orders from Chris rather than giving them.

" Yi, I want you to get in touch with the scouts in Colombia." Chris said. " I want to know what the environment is like over there. Would go over there myself but—" He broke off, shaking his head. " Just get them for me, okay?"

" Yeah," Yi looked at him in concern. " Are you sure you're alright? You look pale."

" I'm fine!" Chris sighed. " Stop asking me that. Go do your stuff."

" Alright." Yi nodded, still concerned.

" I need to get Sardo." Chris headed out the door, but met Sardo on the way.

" You need to get rest." Said the elf. " However you recovered your memories, it is making you unwell."

" I'm fine!"

" You're not fine." The elf said gently. " You've given your orders."

" Not to you I haven't. You are coming with me."

Looking puzzled, the elf followed Chris back into the room.

" We're going on a rescue mission." Said Chris.

" We are?" Sardo asked.

Chris slammed the map down. " I know where the prisons are. I know a way to get past their defenses."

Sardo paused for a moment. " You mean at Wyatt's headquarters."

" Yes, I'm talking about Wyatt's headquarters." Chris stated impatiently. " There were a ton of Resistance members there, being kept alive. We need to get them out of there because the demons aren't letting them die. They're letting them suffer."

" You wish to organize a rescue attempt from the elves." Sardo realized.

" Elven magic can break the chains." Said Chris. " My magic can get us through the defenses. If we work together we can get them out."

" You were just captured, Chris." Sardo said slowly. " I do not know if you remember, but when Cole brought you here, you were gravely injured."

Chris's face was pale as a ghost. " That is precisely why I am going." He replied. " Wyatt would not anticipate I would return to his very den."

" Why not another witch?"

" They do not know the place as well."

Sardo was silent.

Chris slammed his hands on the table, a move uncharacteristic of him. " I know what I'm doing, Sardo."

" I know." Said the elf soothingly. " But I think you are moving too fast."

" They're suffering the longer we wait. Gather the elves. I'll meet you in an hour."

Sardo released a sigh as the boy left. He thought for a moment before leaving the conference room.

" Cole Turner." He greeted the man, who had been about to shimmer away. " May I talk to you?"

Cole turned to him wordlessly.

" You were about to leave." Sardo noticed.

Cole looked uncertain. " Chris has recovered. I have fulfilled my promise."

" I thought you saw the truth already." Sardo frowned.

Cole looked weary now. " Is there something you wanted?"

" Chris has ordered a rescue mission from Wyatt's headquarters." Said Sardo.

Cole frowned. " That is unwise. He is not ready for it."

" He is determined. He claims that many Resistance members were kept alive and that we must get them out."

Cole was silent for a moment. " What does this have to do with me?"

" You were willing to get food for the boy." Sardo pointed out. " He is frightened but determined and I fear he will make a mistake. You are the best person to protect him."

Cole looked down, his eyes distant, but if his first inclination was to refuse, his final answer was, " Alright."

Sardo knew what was going through the other man's mind. " Chris knows how to read people. He will not be unfair to you."

" I know." Cole did not seem reassured. He then looked at Sardo. " I am not an entity of Good, Sardo Sindolion."

" I know." Sardo replied. " And so does Chris. But even creatures of Light have a dark side, and you are no different than the rest. You should not hate yourself for what you cannot help. Even demons, though they embody Evil, do not warrant hatred. They serve a purpose in life, just as the rest of us."

Cole seemed to consider his words for a moment. Before he could speak, however, Chris suddenly came running.

" Sword sword sword sword sw—" Chris skidded to a stop, nearly falling over. " Sardo?"

" I am going." Said Sardo, with a slight incline of his head. As the elf left, Chris turned to Cole. " Hey!" He suddenly smiled, looking breathless and young, compared to the serious leader he had been playing. " Um…"

Chris was nervous, Cole realized. He wrung his hands the way he did whenever he was anxious and bit his bottom lip. " How are you doing?"

" I am fine." Cole replied, baffled.

" Yeah." Chris replied awkwardly. " Listen, thanks for saving me. And keeping me company. I don't know…I mean, I know that you and my mom and aunts had a history and…" The Resistance Leader broke off. " I'm just really grateful." He said at last.

Cole was astounded. " Billie told you." He guessed.

" No." Chris frowned, perplexed. " No! _I _was the one that told _her_. I mean, she has no reason to know of you, really. I didn't know either, since Mom never told me but," He glanced down. " I'm sorry."

Cole had no idea what he was apologizing for. In fact, he barely could grasp what was going on at the moment. " How did you know about me?" he asked, thinking that the Charmed Ones would have done everything they could to erase him from existence.

" It was…" Chris broke off. " It's not that important." He looked at Cole. " Just…thank you. I know I don't deserve your help, but you helped me anyway."

There was a warm feeling in Cole's heart now. " You deserved no less, Chris." He said softly.

" Well, thanks, anyway." Chris stood awkwardly for a moment. " I have to get the sword." He jumped up and hurried down the hall, past Cole.

Cole watched his retreating form, unable to believe what just happened. But as he began to grasp what Chris had been saying, he felt his heart lift.

_Things are going to be different._ He realized, and the voice that had so frequently warned him against opening his heart to others was silent. _Chris accepts me. Chris trusts me. Sardo was right._

For the first time, he allowed himself to smile a wide, heartfelt smile.

oO

Wyatt had a lot of Darklighters defending his headquarters, which made elves and witches a good choice for the mission. Chris was, in fact, not a good choice, but as he had said, he knew the headquarters thanks to having been there once. Even though Cole was present and had been through the headquarters as well, he did not know exactly what routes were the best, because he had simply walked among the demon ranks, invisible and undetectable, so there was no replacement for the boy.

Even so, Sardo and Cole both knew that the boy was frightened. They knew what horrors the boy had endured. Chris was an angel. Being so surrounded by demons and evil, and so helpless against them, would have been unbearable. At the moment, as they watched the headquarters from sseveral miles away, they could see beads of sweat forming over Chris's forehead.

" You don't have to do this." Sardo told Chris. " We elves are not afraid of death, and very likely can handle this on our own, if it is destined for success."

" You need me." Said Chris. " I have to do this. I got out. They did not."

" You could have just sent Cole."

" The alarms would ring as soon as he freed one, let alone all of them." Said Chris. " We need more people to help them all at once."

Even so, he was taking deep breaths, to avoid hyperventilating.

" I won't let you get hurt again." Cole reminded him.

Chris turned to him and they locked gazes. He saw determination fill the green eyes.

" Let's go." Chris said.

The headquarters were well guarded on all sides, but like the base where Billie and Cole had looted, the team intended on using the sewage system to get into the building. The problem was looking for the manhole, however, since the scouts had not reported the locations due to the danger. One of the elves found it, and although Cole hardly required such a roundabout way to enter the building, he followed them down into the sewage system.

There were guards in the sewage system, however, and Chris visibly blanched when he saw them. Cole was with him, however, and the older man rested his hand against the teen to reassure him. Darklighters shot arrows at Chris, who snapped out of his trance and orbed them away from him. There were not that many guards in the sewage, so in about five minutes, all were dead and turned to ash.

" Everyone okay?" Chris's voice was high with stress. The elves murmured their confirmations. " Alright then…"

" I'm right here with you." Cole whispered. He felt a very tender feeling when the boy nodded quickly. He had forgotten how good it is to be able to reassure someone.

" Let's get to it." Chris waved, and they followed. Chris held an orb of magical light in front of him to light the darkness. The elves were very good at remaining unseen, and when they finally made their way up to the garbage chute and into the building, they were able to pass by 5 more groups of guards and demons without being detected.

Cole watched as Chris bravely swallowed his fear each time they passed. " I'm right here," He whispered each time, and each time, Chris nodded.

Cole found himself wishing he had more faith in Chris _before _the poor child was captured.

It was much harder for the group to go to the dungeons than it was for Cole. They went about in a very roundabout fashion because there was no good way of getting to the dungeons. They eventually had to crawl through the airshaft, rather slowly to avoid making any noises. Fortunately, the demons and darklighters thought that there were rats in the building and thought nothing of the noises they did make.

One day Cole was going to ask Chris how he knew his way around so well when Wyatt's minions definitely never took the boy around in the airshaft, but for now he was distracted by the boy's controlled panic. Chris was holding it together by sheer force of will.

It could not be easy.

" There." he whispered, turning his head around. " We're at the dungeons."

The airshaft was too narrow for anyone to crawl up to his level.

" We have to get down without making any commotion or alerting the prisoners." Chris told Sardo. " If they start getting excited they'll alert the guards."

" I'll have a look around." Cole offered, before shimmering down. He pressed his finger to his lips as he materialized to warn the prisoners not to make a sound. Most were not in the condition to.

He took a look around. There were guards outside, but the prisoners were quiet. " All clear." He whispered.

Chris orbed everyone in. " The chains and cells have alarms on them." He told the elves. " But there is only one entrance they could get through. We just have to block the entrance until everyone is freed. Then I'm going to orb us the hell out of here." He headed towards the exit. The sword ended up having its uses after all—Chris seemed to use it as a magical amplifier and he traced around the door, incanting in Latin. When he was done, a calm, green barrier was in place.

" That will keep even Wyatt back for fifteen minutes, but we gotta work quick." He said to the elves. " Which means we'll have to do it all efficiently."

They counted the number of cells, and assigned each elf to a group of cells. Chris then headed to the exit with Cole. The boy was tense and anxious, and Cole found himself murmuring again, " I'm right here, Chris."

Chris nodded just as quickly as he had all the other times Cole said this, showing just how much he needed to be reassured of that. " On the count of three, people, then break them out. One. Two. Three!"

Alarms blared almost instantly, dozens at once, deafening the muted room. The guards immediately outside the dungeons rushed in. Chris killed them by telekinetically crushing their necks in half—something even Prue would have had trouble doing. Cole would have stepped in to help, but in reality, there was very little he could do in terms of killing demons, and Chris seemed to be holding his own. More alarms blared, getting louder every minute, and more demons and darklighters charged in. Several ran against the barrier and were incinerated. The darklighters lifted their crossbows and shot at Chris, who telekinetically whipped them back to their shooters.

Then, the Dark Lord himself emerged in a flurry of black orbs.

" Well well well," The man sneered, " You have some gall, Little Brother, coming here so soon after you left. Didn't have enough fun here, did you?"

Cole had been standing to the side, momentarily out of visual range. He expected Chris to come up with some acerbic reply as the teen had done before, whenever he came across Wyatt. But to his surprise, Chris was silent. Cole turned to look at him, wondering why.

It was instantly clear. The child was frozen with terror. His face was white as paper, his eyes wide with panic, and beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle from the fear coursing through his bones. Visions of his nightmarish past flashed in front of his eyes. Vile, evil beings, touching him _everywhere_, breaking his fingers, breaking his legs, his arms, letting them heal and breaking them again. _Screwing a half-angel's not worse than screwing a full one! He's the Lord's own _precious _little brother. You like getting fucked, little half-angel?_ The boy started sobbing, his grip on his sword tight, but unable to use it. He had screamed. He could not bear it, and like the naive _fool_ he was he started screaming for Wyatt, reduced to begging because he could not handle any more. _Oh no, we're not going to kill this one. He's even better than the full whitelighters and it's no fun if he's dead. He'd rot. Doesn't he smell so nice?_

" Not so brave anymore, are you, Little Brother?" Wyatt laughed cruelly. He extended his hand to lower the wards. Cole stepped between the brothers then, into view, making the current Source stop in the middle of using his powers.

" You." Said the Dark Lord, and his eyes narrowed. " Cole Turner," He enunciated, " I thought you said you were not going to help the Resistance."

" I changed my mind." Cole said calmly, as he extended his hand behind him to touch Chris's figure. The child was trembling like a leaf, and his breath came out in gasps of panic. " I'm here," He said to Chris, " I won't let you get hurt again."

" That is so sweet," Wyatt sneered, his voice dripping with venom, " Big Uncle Cole Turner defending poor _wittle _Chris. You certainly didn't step in before, when he was having _so much fun_ with us." The beings behind Wyatt laughed darkly. " Don't kid yourself. It's too late, for him and for you."

It might have worked, Wyatt's words. Except not only had Chris shown already that he did have faith in Cole, the boy currently was so sick with fear that his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. Distracted, Cole turned around to check on him, and Wyatt used this opportunity to throw an energy ball at him. It glanced off the barrier, and Cole ignored him.

But the child was so terrified he was completely incapacitated, even as Sardo shouted, " Chris, get us out of here, now!" Cole turned back around to see Wyatt lowering the barriers. They had given far earlier than expected, but that may be due to Chris's mental state. " Chris!" The elf shouted. " Orb us out!"

But Chris was so consumed by the haunting visions that he was no longer aware at all of what was happening around him. _You like this, you little bitch!_ And pain, at the core of his bones, his skull, his eyes feeling like they were on fire and his lungs, scalding hot water and red-hot branding and peeling of skin and the violation again and again, hunger and thirst and the vast whirlwind of agony—

" Chris!" Cole was shouting his name too. The barriers will be down any minute now, Wyatt's face split into a sinister grin as he held his arms out, his eyes gleaming maliciously. While Cole was immune to Wyatt's powers, he did not have enough influence in this realm to battle Wyatt and hope to defeat the witchlighter, and simultaneously prevent any of Wyatt's powers, or his minions that flanked his sides, from hurting anyone else. He did not have the power either to shimmer everyone at once. It all came down to Chris. " Chris, snap out of it!"

But how could the child? He could not even hear Cole. The former demon glanced behind him, the heart he did not know still existed racing in his chest. He did not have time to wonder why he still had a heart that beat. He had to snap Chris out of this now.

With a sudden, instinctive move he had no intention of committing, Cole pulled back his right arm, curled it into a fist, and punched Chris in the face. Hard.

He did not have time to feel remorse, because surprisingly, it worked. Chris probably did not even really feel the pain. He had literally been punched out of his trance. With a lung, he snapped his sword at the exit, accidentally piercing Cole as well, but Cole was not injured. The barrier went up again, and Wyatt roared in frustration. Chris snapped to his feet and whirled around to the elves and grabbed on to Sardo, who was closest in the line of elves and captives. He visibly heaved as he orbed, but a Darklighter's arrow pierced through Cole and plunged into Chris's spine. The shock of the pain stopped the orb, and Chris, fell to the ground, his legs unable to support him.

" Chris!" Sardo shouted, and Cole dashed for him. With a valiant effort, Chris waved his arms, and the elves and captives disappeared in a flurry of orbs. But Chris was left in the dungeons.

The barrier came down. Wyatt stormed in, but Cole was not going to let the madman take the boy again. He had already dashed to the child's side, and he glanced up so that he and Wyatt made eye contact as he gathered the boy into his arms, before the world dissolved and reformed into the main hall of the Resistance base.

oO

Once at the base, healing Chris's arrow wound was a relatively small matter. But the boy got to his feet, his legs wavering beneath him, and latched on to Cole.

" I blanked out." He choked miserably.

" It's okay." Said Cole. " It's understandable."

" No it isn't." Chris shook his head. Sardo, leaving the whitelighters to heal the captives, stepped over to where they stood but did not say anything. " I shouldn't have blanked out. I never blanked out before, with Wyatt, and I knew what he was capable of doing. But this time…"

" Shhh." Cole held the teen's face in his hands. " It was too soon. You had just recovered your memories. It was too soon for you to lead this mission when you had barely recovered."

" I can't face him again." Chris's face contorted with distress. " I can't face him again. I—I—I can't do this."

" It's okay." Cole said gently.

" No it's not." Chris trembled. " I—how am I supposed to lead the Resistance against Wyatt if I can't even face him myself?"

" You needed more time to heal." Sardo said from beside them. " Just as people here need to recover from physical wounds when pierced by magic that cannot be healed. You need time to recover from your own wound. The suffering Wyatt inflicted on others was nothing compared to what he had done to you. Give yourself time."

But Chris was not listening. " I can't face him." He was starting a mantra. " I can't do this. I—I just can't."

Tears of fright spilling from his eyes, he let go of Cole, and dashed out, stumbling along the way. Cole started to follow, but Sardo grabbed his upper arm.

" Let him panic." Said the elf. " He needs to cry it out."

Cole stared at Sardo and wondered if in the end, Sardo would make a better father figure than he did.


	7. Golden Gates

Shadows Like Ghosts

Golden Gates

" Where's Chris?"

" His room." Cole replied. " I just left him." In truth, once Cole had gone to check on the boy, Chris had refused to let Cole leave. He clung tightly to Cole's hand, and eventually Cole found himself rocking the distraught teen to sleep. It was only when the boy finally fell asleep that Cole left the boy.

" …" Billie ran her fingers through her hair. She needed to get it cut; it was getting so long that it kept getting tangled. She was no longer one for vanity, but in battle, long hair was a disadvantage, and if she could not comb through her hair, she could not twist it into a bun and get it out of the way.

" I _knew_ it was too soon." She lamented. " I should have been more forceful. But to be honest, I was so happy he was back and I really wanted him to take charge again. It was selfish of me. I should have put his ass in his place and continued, but I was so…" She shook her head. " I'm just so relieved that he's alright."

" We just need a password. He doesn't have to go on the mission." Charlie pointed out. He gestured at John. " John can do it."

" Yeah, we can keep Chris here at the base." Billie frowned. " But knowing Chris…he's gonna be even more pissed. At himself."

" Well fuck that. He's just gonna have to deal with it." Said Charlie. " He's just gonna get himself hurt. Not to mention, with the way he froze, he nearly got all the others captured by Wyatt too. When you're not ready, you're not fucking ready."

" He's more worried that he'll never be ready, however." Cole felt the need to remark, as he listened to the conversation.

The group was silent, because they shared the same concern.

" We can get him to go on a not-so-dangerous mission and distract him from this." Yi suggested. He had to say it again when they could not understand through his accent.

" Are you kidding? This is Chris we're talking about. He _knows_ how dangerous _all _of the missions are. We can't fool him. And even if he doesn't know about all the missions, he's gonna see right through our plot."

" I feel that we may need to view this from a different perspective." Sardo broke in. " Chris has been acting as a witch. He is, however, half-whitelighter."

Billie's mouth actually fell open at that, as did everyone else except Cole and Sardo. " That is a brilliant idea," Said the blonde, " Except he doesn't have healing powers, which is a big to do about whitelighters. He can't cultivate his passive side if he can't actually do anything passive."

" He could make more potions." Said Cole, while everyone else's mouths were still hanging open. He wondered why this suggestion was so surprising to them. " Potions are always good."

Billie's mouth fell open again as she turned to Cole with both hands raised, fingers pointing upward. " You and Sardo are geniuses. He's the best at making potions. He's like a Potions Master. This will keep him occupied and we get tons of stuff we can use to throw at the demons."

" You think we can convince Chris to become a brewer?" Charlie asked.

" He's not gonna like this." Said Yi. " This doing nothing actively to help. I can't see him being happy about it."

" Well fuck that." Billie echoed Charlie's words. " He's just gonna have to deal with it."

oO

As it turned out, Chris was not in the shape to be unhappy about any plans the rest of the Resistance had.

" Hey Billie." He smiled at her. " I was going to look for you."

" It's funny how we always know that if we're looking for anyone, it's the conference room." Billie summoned a smile. " How you feelin', kiddo?"

" Not good." Chris replied honestly. " Listen, can we talk?"

Hearing his tone, Billie took his hand. " Sure thing. Come on, let's sit down."

She was not so excited to hear what he had to say though. Despite having worried herself, she could not handle hearing this from Chris.

" You're giving up?" She snapped, rising out of her chair and slamming the table. " I don't believe this! You're Chris Perry Halliwell! You've been leading the Resistance for five years! People in all the bases, they trust you and they care about you and they look to you!"

Chris looked at her sullenly. " You did fine while I was away." He said. " You were fine."

" Because I was taking it on as a temporary job, you stuck up ass!" Billie fumed. " I can't lead the Resistance! The last mission I sent out, do you remember what happened? They were _all _captured. And the last mission you led? Guess what, we _saved them all._"

" No, the spies were in place and now we have people undercover. And no, I didn't save them." Chris said sadly. " It was Cole."

" The fuck it was Cole. The only reason he's helping us is because of you.""

" Billie, I can't lead the Resistance if I can't even stand up to what we are fighting against!"

" That's because you're not fucking giving yourself a chance!" Billie suddenly deflated. " Chris, you have to realize…I know that you probably don't even think about this anymore, going on missions, saving lives, saving other people's lives, seeing others die…but…you're a nineteen-year-old _kid._ When I was nineteen—"

" Yeah, I know what you were doing when you were nineteen." Chris looked away. " You were in college, which no longer exists. Times are different now. People have to grow up fast."

" I know. But all I'm saying is, you just dealt with a trauma that people twenty years older than you can't handle. You really think you can just jump back? Of course not. And guess what, no one expects you to." Billie leaned across the table. " You want to know what people were saying while you were gone?" She asked gently.

Chris did not show interest, but Billie said it anyway. " They kept saying, _he's just a kid. He's Wyatt's little brother. How could Wyatt do this to his own brother. He's only nineteen._ I know it's hard to _grasp_," Her tone became acerbic, " That people here actually _are _aware that you're barely a man—"

" I would have reached my majority a year ago."

" Fuck you!" Billie snapped. " Who gives a shit whether or not you'd be of legal age to vote and go to war back in 2018! People never gave a shit about that. Guess what? You wouldn't even be allowed to buy booze if you were back in 2018. Until you can fucking order at a bar even after you show your ID, you're a fucking kid and everyone in the Resistance knows that!"

" What the hell is your point, Billie?" Chris barked angrily.

" My point is that everyone here is willing to wait for you to recover in your own time! It's _you _that's so stuck up your own ass that you're not giving _us _a chance!"

" What's going on in here?" Tara and Charlie poked their heads through the door.

Since Tara and Charlie were both higher officials, Billie snapped out, " Chris wants to give up leadership."

" What?" Tara gasped. " You can't do that! Please don't do that! Look, people will be so devastated if they hear that…that—"

" You two, leave." Chris commanded. He seemed so much like a leader again that both Charlie and Tara were speechless for a moment. " I need to discuss with Billie alone."

After some hesitation, they left, and Chris closed the door. He leaned his forehead against it for a moment.

" Billie," He confessed weakly, " I'm scared."

Billie felt her heart melt at these words. " I know, baby." She said softly, feeling sorry now that she had been so harsh. " I'd be scared too."

" No, you don't understand." Chris looked at her with wide, vulnerable eyes. " I'm _terrified _of coming across Wyatt again. The very thought just…it just _paralyzes _me. I don't know what I'd do if I ever see him again—I'd rather _die _than face him again—I'd even abandon the Resistance and all its members to his reign if I could just get away from him."

These words would have alarmed Billie, but she knew Chris. " I know, honey." She said softly, and she reached out to him and pulled him to a hug. " But you're not that kind of person. Deep down, you'd never be capable of doing that. I know it seems like it now," She added quickly when she felt him stiffen in protest, " But that's because Wyatt was unbelievably cruel to you and you were all alone. But you have us, and you have Cole. You just need to have faith in yourself."

When she pulled away, Chris did not look convinced, but then, he did not press the issue further.

oO

" Second most powerful being in the world, reduced to mass production of kick-ass potions." Charlie chuckled. " Come on. You gotta see the humor in that."

" That is _not_ funny," John protested, " Given the circumstances."

" Oh come on." Charlie laughed. " At least Chris is still alive. I don't know about you, but for me, that's like a gift from God. If there is still a God out there." He used a carefully controlled aerokinesis to lift one of the pots off a tall shelf that he could not physically reach.

" His self-confidence is in shambles. Don't you go around joking about that while he's around."

" Instant noodles for the win." Charlie changed the topic as he then used pyrokinesis to light a fire in order to boil the water. " You know, even though Wyatt's like evil Superman, it's really awesome that we have Chris and Billie on our side. The second and third most powerful beings in the world."

" Not third anymore." John reminded him. " After Wyatt injured Billie, she lost her ability to travel through time."

" Yo, but her amplifying powers are _the deal._ Ever wonder why she doesn't just amplify Chris against his brother?"

" She did. Four years ago. Same time she got injured. She was amplifying Chris's powers but they were only able to fight Wyatt for about thirty minutes before his powers overwhelmed them and struck Billie. Knocked her time travel power right out of her and it sailed to a demon."

" Really? _Shit_. If she still had her time-traveling powers we could have changed it so that Wyatt's dead before he ever became the evil warlord. What happened to the demon though? I mean, if one of Wyatt's minions has the power to time travel, it's a wonder any of us are still alive."

" Chris killed the demon before he rescued Billie." John smirked. " He _is _still the second most powerful being in the world. Demon with time traveling powers? Not a chance."

" Man, I hope he gets better soon." Said Charlie, as he waited for the water to boil. " We'd lose our advantage. Not that we have much of one. But kid's got brains, yo, and even if Wyatt has that stupid power of knocking other people's powers away, he can still run circles around that guy long enough for us to do what we need to do. But now that he can't go head to head against Wyatt, we're gonna have a much harder time."

" He's a nineteen-year-old kid." Said John, sadly. " He made this happen when he was fourteen. It's amazing he's done this much. Even if he does end up handing things over to Billie and making potions for the rest of his life, I'd say he's done enough."

Charlie did not reply, but they both knew he agreed.

oO

Chris lived up to his old standards when he spent most of the day with the freed captives. Though he had suffered the worst out of all of them, as Wyatt had given his minions completely free reign over his brother when he had not been quite so liberal with the others, most of the captives were completely maddened by their imprisonment. It made Cole feel all the more awed by just how strong Chris was as a person, how collected he really was, and how despite his own pain and fears, he was able to set those aside to help the others in need.

After spending nearly an hour with each of them, Chris then headed over to the Red Base with Billie. He had already accepted the role of potion-making for now, and was a lot more agreeable than anyone had anticipated. The teams assembled at the Red Base had been waiting for Chris for several days by then, because there had been many captives and Chris had personally spent time with all of them. Also at the Red Base were Yi, Charlie, John, and Tara, along with several other Resistance leaders Cole was not familiar with.

This left only Sardo.

Another patch of the garden was ready, so Sardo was organizing the planting of more crops. Cole joined the ranks, helping a little where he could. It was oddly peaceful and quiet, with none of the desperation Cole had sensed when he had come, bearing Chris in his arms, the food running low and everyone despairing of the potential consequences for any delays. People seemed almost content.

He talked with Sardo for a while, and asked Sardo why he was so interested in his relationship with Chris.

" You were not watching Chris all the time." Said Sardo. " Perhaps this occurred while you were otherwise occupied, but five years ago, Leo came to the Resistance to look for Chris. The whitelighter had believed that Chris had done something to Wyatt."

Cole snorted, and other members grunted in equal displeasure, but they did not interrupt Sardo.

" He did not go so far as to accuse Chris of intentionally turning Wyatt evil." The elf went on, " But he did believe that Chris might have inadvertently spelled Wyatt to become the way he was. By his logic, Chris is the only being likely able to do such a thing. He wanted Chris to fix this. Chris had, by then, spent nearly all of his energy establishing refuges for free and good beings as well as neutral beings such as the Cleaners, who were also being targetted by Wyatt. Emotionally and physically drained, especially as he had witnessed his entire generation of Halliwells murdered by his brother, he was in no shape to face Leo or his accusations. What might have started as a rather civil conversation grew into a full-scale quarrel. Leo denounced Chris, declaring that he did not care enough for Wyatt. Chris accused Leo of only caring about Wyatt and not for him, to which Leo then proclaimed Chris to be the evil being, just like a list of other beings, most notably, Cole Turner."

Cole blinked at this, wondering how Chris could possibly take interest in such a thing, but Sardo was still explaining.

" Presumably, your name caught Chris's attention because he has heard of every other evil being in that list except you. His mother had often told him stories of past adventures, but she had never mentioned anything about you." _Go figure._ Cole thought. " So after Chris forced Leo to leave, he went to one of the Elders who had escaped to the refuge, Kevin."

_Kevin?_ Cole wondered. Why did that seem familiar somehow?

" Kevin was, according to Chris, an Elder the Charmed Ones had saved when Piper Halliwell had been pregnant with Wyatt. They met him as a thirteen-year-old boy who had the power to bring to life anything he drew. At the time, there was another Elder named…Ramus, I believe, who was retiring and needed to transfer his powers to the new Elder, Kevin. The transfer of power made both individuals vulnerable, but the Charmed Ones helped both fulfill their destinies. Because of this, Kevin had a closer relationship to the Charmed Ones than most of the other Elders, and had been the only Elder, other than Gideon, to believe that Wyatt's powers were getting increasingly dangerous. Chris went to Kevin and asked him if he knew anything about you, and Kevin explained your story."

Cole felt numb. He swallowed thickly. _I should thank Kevin._ He thought. " Where is Kevin now?" He asked, thinking he wanted to speak to this Elder personally, and finding it strange that after about a month, he still had not seen the Elder yet.

" He is gone." Said Sardo neutrally. " Wyatt destroyed him."

Cole stared, frozen, as the elf calmly went back to work.

oO

Chris came back with Yi from the Red base, looking absolutely exhausted. He punched Cole's chest lightly in greeting before walking past wordlessly to his room.

" He's gonna get some shut-eye." Yi told Cole, then scowled as he had to repeat it again because Cole did not understand. " This is getting really old. I've been speaking English for years and I still can't get rid of the accent."

" Don't worry about it." Cole replied, distracted. " Hey, are you Chinese?"

" Yeah? What's it to you?"

" …" Cole actually had no idea why he asked. " I was just…wondering."

Yi cocked an eyebrow, but then dropped it. " I'm gonna go take a nap myself. I've been up all day working with Marcos from Colombia. You think _I _have a bad accent—his accent's way out there. Or maybe it's cuz my English's no good. I'll see you later."

" Later," Cole echoed, looking after the man as he went down the hall to the sleeping quarters.

Several hours later, a light commotion began in the Great Hall, where about two hundred people emerged in a flurry of orbs.

" Hey," Yi, who had woken up by then, called. " What happened?"

" We couldn't get in." Said Billie. " My powers of warping reality aren't strong enough to get the gates to open just because I said they should open to a whitelighter chanting the password. We tried all of the whitelighters together and it still didn't work. I think Chris got his stuff mixed up this time around."

" Wouldn't be the first time, actually, but what are we going to do?" Yi asked. " This isn't good."

" Where's Chris?" Billie demanded.

" He's sleeping." Said Cole, feeling worried as well. _Huh. Haven't felt worried in a long time either. Not like this, anyway._

" Well, the good news is, even though we can't get into El Dorado, Wyatt can't either. There was an inscription on the wall that the whitelighters found and it said that only a being of pure good could speak the correct password and open the door."

" Sounds like whitelighter to me," Yi frowned, " I mean, who can be more pure and good that a whitelighter?"

" I don't know!" Billie frowned. " But maybe Chris can figure it out. He did his research from the books we stole from the Grecan Library and came pretty close. Maybe if we actually bring him to El Dorado, we stand better of a chance. But I'm gonna have to go with him."

" We cannot have both leaders in line of danger," Sardo had caught up to the rest of the group. " If both of you get killed, the Resistance will be left without all of the plans of action."

" Which is why we have you! I'm supposed to brief you on everything but I thought I would leave Chris to do it. That, and I also forgot, since we had that food problem." Billie yawned. " This is tiring work. I think I'm gonna go get a nap myself. We're not in a hurry now that we know that Wyatt doesn't stand a chance at getting into El Dorado so we can afford to wait a while. We can let Chris know later on what happened earlier."

Yi looked at Cole and Sardo while Billie and Tara left for the sleeping quarters. " At least no one died." He remarked.

Sardo glared at him. Cole found that an elf's glare was something to behold. " You should watch your tongue." The elf remonstrated.

" Yeah yeah I know." Yi shook his head. " But still, you know?"

Sardo ignored him, walking past, and Cole glanced wryly at Yi. " Six thousand members. Chris must have had great faith in this. I wonder why it did not work."

" Seemed to be because it wasn't supposed to be a whitelighter." Charlie explained as he glanced at his athame. " Damn. When did I knick it?"

" So the password Chris gave you guys was correct?" Yi asked.

" Yeah. Like, we think so. I mean, the gates kind of rocked a lot as if trying to open and then decided not to or something."

" Huh." Yi frowned. " That's so weird."

" I'm starving." Charlie said. " I'll catch you guys later. Gotta get something to eat." He left the two.

" Chris is not gonna be happy." Yi muttered, before leaving Cole alone in the room.

Cole stood for a moment thinking that it felt very strange to be so accepted in the group. They were talking about information in front of him without a care in the world. Even the Charmed Ones had not treated him as one of their own.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. If Wyatt was killing Elders, and all the surviving whitelighters were hiding in the Resistance, because Wyatt was killing them all, even his own family…where is Leo hiding now, exactly?


	8. Meeting of Minds

Shadows Like Ghosts

Meeting of Minds

Normally when making potions witches tend to avoid using telekinesis. Many potions ingredients were volatile, and telekinesis can be a rather dodgy skill, not to mention the whole policy on personal gain. Chris, however, was almost a master of telekinesis, and personal gain had been a considerably minor concern ever since Wyatt's Empire first began. It was an incredibly entertaining sight to watch as dozens of potion ingredients flew around the room, adding to pots with spoons stirring by themselves, while Chris had his hands outstretched, focusing on everything so that he could make several different kinds of potions at once without ruining any of them.

" I love it when he does that." Said Billie to Cole. " He's so pro. I tried doing that once. I ended up making myself bald. Speaking of which, I need to get someone to cut my hair for me."

" How did he react to the El Dorado mission?" Cole asked.

" How else could he react? He was upset."

" Did he go there himself?"

" Not yet." Said Billie. " I…yeah."

Cole nodded. " Not ready to leave the safety of the base."

Billie sighed. " I wish I had been with him on the graveyard mission. I could have amplified his powers, gotten him out of there. But we had no idea Wyatt was going to show up _there _of all places. It was pure accident we discovered the place ourselves."

" The dying Draconian." Cole replied, nodding. He had seen it happen at the time.

" He will pull through. He is strong." Cole told Billie. " He needs time to heal. Besides, it was never a good idea to put a leader's life in the front lines anyway. With the head goes the body. He would probably end up being much more useful in the long run by protecting himself."

" So we said to him." Billie replied. " He's taking it well. I think he realizes that he's not really in the shape to fight in the front lines right now. Oh my god, would you look at that." She pointed as Chris did an amazing trick with his telekinesis. The boy had no idea he was being watched. " He's like autistic or something. Well you know what I mean. People with autism could do such awesome things."

Suddenly, something bright red collided with Billie's head. It burst and water spurted out.

" What the hell?" Billie whirled around. Billie glanced at the latex still hanging off her now drenched hair. It was a water balloon. " People!" She yelled. " Chris is making potions! Go take your water balloon fight elsewhere!"

" Sorry Billie," Said a chorus of young voices, and Cole leaned to the side to see several adolescents, all carrying water balloons, hurrying away from the corridor.

" In fact, take it out to the courtyard!" Billie shouted. " And don't cross the fence!"

" Yes Billie!"

Cole found himself smiling. Billie muttered. " I'm gonna get dry." And in saying so, she suddenly was.

Cole always found this active power of hers very intriguing. " That wasn't too bad." He remarked.

" Would be if they had hit one of the pots." Billie pulled her hair out of her face.

Chris used some pyrokinetic trick to raise the flames higher and boil the potions. He clapped his hands, and headed out of the kitchen, where he grinned at Billie.

" I heard that." Chris laughed. He was not exactly cheery, but he seemed a bit more relaxed. " The kids, right?"

" They have unlimited energy or something!"

" Hey, you should know by now." Chris winked. But his smile tightened a little. He was remembering the younger generation of Halliwells, how Billie babysat all of them in their childhood. But they were all gone…

" You could always join them, you know." Cole said to Billie.

Billie cocked an eyebrow. " Hey." She exclaimed. " Cole Turner has a sense of humor after all!"

Cole found himself blushing, and Chris laughed, no doubt sensing his embarrassment.

" I'm gonna go get some food." Billie announced. " You boys better behave."

" Moi?" Chris protested, but Billie just sniffed and walked away.

" I love Billie." Chris sighed in satisfaction. " Back in the day, I wanted to marry my Mommy, but because Wyatt wanted to marry her, I stepped aside and declared I wanted to marry Billie. You can imagine she wasn't entirely impressed with being second choice."

" What about Prue?" Cole asked. " I seem to remember you wanted to marry Prue as well."

Chris scowled. " You _would _know, wouldn't you? Kinda hard to marry a ghost though, so Billie was a better option. Then she had a boyfriend."

_And then Wyatt killed him._ Cole remembered. There was so much pain and loss. The Halliwells had always suffered hardship, but never did any of them expect the source to be one of their own.

" Billie claims that she didn't really love him that much anyway. Was a brief fling, but I don't know if I believe her." Chris sighed. " With the way she dives into the work at the Resistance."

" Like you." Cole pointed out.

" Well I have to." Chris said somberly. " If I don't, no one else can."

A heavy pause followed.

" I wish I knew how to summon the Charmed Ones." Chris said sadly. " I never saw the spell. Dad always let Wyatt use the book and not me. Claimed I wasn't powerful enough. And when Mom showed me the book, the issue never came up. I never figured out how to summon anyone on my own. I remember something about candles…but that's about it."

" I'm sorry." Cole said sadly. " I don't remember how to do it. I never paid much attention."

" It's fine. I'm no worse off than anyone else around here." Chris replied quietly. He bowed his head. " I wish you had been around. I understand why you weren't, but I still wish you were around. I think I wouldn't have been so pathetic about Leo all the time if you had been."

Cole circled his arm around Chris's shoulders. " I'm sorry too." He admitted.

" We could have had a great time. You would have made an awesome uncle."

Cole was silent.

" Sorry." Chris apologized. " I didn't mean to bring it up like that."

" No." Said Cole. " It's alright. I don't know if I love Phoebe that much anymore. Time made my love for her…pale."

Chris did not reply.

_How strange._ Cole thought. They were talking so honestly to each other, as if they had known each other for years. But then he remembered Chris's empath abilities. Sometimes it is hard to remember that Chris can sense other people's feelings. He hugged Chris to him a little more tightly. _If only you were my son!_

" I have to go check on the potions." Said Chris, with a tone of regret. " But how about we do something fun later today?"

" Like what?" Cole asked.

" I dunno. Basketball. We have that courtyard that way members don't get stifled from being indoors for so long."

" I don't even know how to play basketball anymore." Cole said thoughtfully.

" Then we'll just shoot hoops." Chris grinned. " I suck at that so don't feel bad if you suck at it too."

Cole smiled. This was a father-son thing to do, right? And Chris was reaching out to him. Cole had not even needed to try to win the boy's trust. _Maybe I do deserve this…_ " Alright. You know where to find me when you're done."

" Yeah." Said Chris. " I have to brief Billie and Charlie on attacking the Quarter base first, but I'll be free in the afternoon. See you there!"

Cole stepped back, letting Chris go, and he watched the boy hover several vials at once with his telekinesis and begin tending to the potions. _Chris wouldn't trust you if you don't deserve to be trusted._ And even though Cole had no idea why the boy warmed up to him so quickly, he found that he did not really care.

oO

" If you can figure out how they communicate and interfere so that Wyatt doesn't know the base is being attacked," Billie frowned, " Can you do that? I mean, I'm still not entirely sure what you _can _do."

" It really depends." Said Cole, who was preparing for the upcoming basketball game. He could not actively fight since his powers in this world were not that strong, but that did not mean Billie and Charlie could not recruit his help in some form. " If however the base communicates with the headquarters requires strong earthly magic to manipulate, I can do nothing. However, I strongly suspect that they actually communicate through something similar to a palantir."

" Why not a palantir itself?"

" Because palantirs are not very efficient." Cole replied. " I believe in recent years Wyatt has invented an improved version of the palantir."

" Well, can you get in the way of the palantir?" Asked Charlie.

" It merely requires that no one touch it." Said Cole. " If people touch it, Wyatt can see what they see and hear what they hear. I can merely send the palantir into the realm between realms and have it remain there until the defenses are set up. Chris can then destroy it. Or you, but I do not know how powerful the palantir would be."

" Alright then. So we leave tomorrow for the Quarter base and you can first take care of the communication device before giving us the signal." Billie nodded at Charlie. " We're done. I'm gonna go brief the other members and prepare for the attack in the morning."

Cole, dressed now in a t-shirt and sweatpants, headed out to the court to meet Chris, who was dribbling the ball. In truth, Cole never had an opportunity to play basketball much, and never really knew all the rules to begin with. He discovered he still had terrible aim, something that delighted Chris, whose aim was definitely better.

" You know," Said the teen, " I keep thinking about that message on the gates of El Dorado."

" What about it?" Cole asked, shooting the ball and watching it bounce off the rim.

Chris caught the ball. " It's the wording, you know? It's weird. I know it's Muiscan but even when I read the inscription they copied for me, it translates into, a being of pure good alone can speak the words of truth, to open the golden gate. Can speak, implying that no one else can even _say_ the password. Maybe I gave them the wrong password?"

" How did you figure out the password?" Cole asked.

Chris shot the ball, which also bounced off the rim. Cole went to retrieve it. " I looked up how the gates were constructed." Said Chris.

" What was the password?" Cole asked, shooting the ball.

" Not gonna tell you," Chris replied, and Cole felt his heart stop for a moment, " Out here anyway." The boy continued. " I didn't even tell Billie. I only told the whitelighters."

" Why?" Cole asked, feeling less hurt than he could have been, now that he realized Chris was not singling him out. " What's wrong with letting other Resistance members know? I mean, if you are worried some may be unloyal—"

" It's not about that." Chris shook his head. " Some people aren't pure good around here. They're not pure evil but they're not pure good. Like you."

" And?" Cole asked, as Chris shot the ball again, which went in.

" The place has traps and tricks." Chris bounced the ball to Cole. " Anyone who doesn't fit the criteria gets zapped and killed."

" …" Cole had no response to that, so he shot the ball. _Go figure._ He thought, when it went in.

" So how come the whitelighters weren't killed?"

" They fit the criteria." Chris replied. " Nice shot." He threw the ball. " It's just I guess the doors require someone specific, somehow. Not just anyone who is pure good or anything. I get the sense that it has to do with the wording. _Can _speak the words of truth. _Can._ Not _may_. Isn't that a bit weird?"

" You're saying the whitelighters said it wrong?" Cole asked.

" I don't know." Chris frowned. " I looked at the password and it's supposed to sound…yeah. But maybe someone else who looks at it would know better." He turned to Cole. " Can you look at it for me?"

Cole felt that warm feeling again. It seemed that Chris is capable of doing that to him. Once upon a time it was Phoebe, but hers was like a fire. With Chris, it was much more tender.

" Of course." He smiled. Chris grinned back.

" Thanks."

They stopped talking and focused more on their shots.

oO

The Resistance seemed to already consider Cole to not only be a member, but as Chris's father figure that Charlie and Billie had been so excited about. Later that evening when people were getting dinner in the cafeteria, Chris and Cole were approached by a cupid.

" No." Said Chris, even before the cupid opened his mouth.

" Come on Chris." The cupid folded his arms. " You know that it's really sad that you haven't dated yet."

" Lots of people haven't dated yet when they were nineteen. And I'm kind of busy!"

" I found you this perfect girl—"

" You can introduce her to her perfect guy. I'm not interested."

" Kid," The cupid then turned to Cole, " Can you talk some sense into him? He seems to listen to you."

" Don't you dare." Chris warned laughingly. " Eroof here has this obsession with getting me a romantic life. You know I can't afford it."

Cole smiled, both because he found the situation amusing, and also because cupids have the strangest names. " To be fair," he said to the golden-haired angel, " If I do agree with your views, I would have to meet the said 'perfect girl' first before I can live with attempting to convince Chris of anything."

" Oh she is an absolute catch." Eroof said to Cole excitedly. " She is smart, funny, and _hot._"

" Oh, you mean Billie?" Chris remarked. Somehow, Cole had a feeling the boy would say that, and he secretly cheered himself of how well he knew Chris now. " No thanks, but she's a little bit too old for me, not to mention the plain disinterest in that sort of thing—"

" Now you're just being a jerk." Eroof pouted. " Though that does remind me, I have to get her a guy—"

" Don't you dare," Billie popped up right behind the cupid, " Unless you want me to kick your ass, Eroof."

" He never gives it a rest!" Chris complained, though he was grinning. " Here, Eroof, I'll make you a deal. You stop trying to match me with a girl, I will personally help you find a guy for Billie—"

" _Chris!"_

" Two angels in on this together." Cole could not help but comment. His face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. " You would not be able to stand up against them, Billie."

" Oh my god, you are a total jackass, Chris!" Billie punched Chris. Chris mock-winced and stuck his tongue out at her. " And you!" She whirled on Eroof. " Don't you dare set me up on a date with any guy! I'm far too busy for that sort of thing!"

" Nonsense!" Cole decided to play the devil's advocate. " Everyone has enough time for love."

" See, the wise Cole Turner agrees with me." Eroof smiled triumphantly.

" I'm gonna own you, Cole Turner." Billie glared.

" Oh no." Cole moved behind Chris. The other Resistance members were watching, all grinning and some chuckling in mirth. " Chris, you have to save me from her. She is crazy!"

The move, more than his words, prompted Billie to start chasing him. The Resistance was then treated to a lively scene of their second-in-command pursuing their leader's father figure. Tables were turned, chairs fell over, while Billie shouted out threats and Cole darted between Resistance members, who laughingly stepped aside to allow him to pass. In another lifetime, Cole might have been horrified. He could only ever imagine doing this with Phoebe, perhaps, or with their child—but he could hear Chris's laughter in the background, and a glance or two at the boy revealed that Chris was in fact laughing so hard he could barely stand. For Cole's part, he had never felt so _alive_.

All of the sudden, Cole ran into someone, and as he backed away he saw that he had run into a flurry of orbs. A haggard, exhausted Leo materialized.

The cheerful moment ended abruptly, and Cole felt his heart plummet. He backed away in shock.

Billie still had her wits about her, however.

" You!" She shouted, her eyes flashing in anger. " How many _fucking _times do we have to tell you to leave us the _fuck _alone?!" With a might jerk of her arm, she flung Leo backwards from where he stood. Several refugees darted to the side as he fell. Leo disappeared in a flurry of orbs before reappearing again, upright.

" Please," He begged, " Hear me out."

" We've heard enough of your shit!" Cried the irate blonde witch. " We want nothing to do with you! Whatever you're coming for, the answer is _no! _N, O! Is this for some reason _not entering your brain?_"

" I need to speak with my son." Said Leo, his voice very quiet in contrast to Billie's. He lifted his eyes and saw Cole and froze. " You…"

Cole was speechless. He stood, rooted to the spot, his mind completely empty and hardly seeing that Leo Wyatt was standing in front of him. He had seen Leo Wyatt over the years, had decided long ago that Leo's judgment was not impeccable, but standing here now, facing him, still made doubt seed itself in Cole's mind.

" I thought you decided not to get involved in anything here." Leo scowled. " For once."

" Leave him alone." Chris commanded, stepping alongside Cole. " You're the one to talk."

Leo's eyes were hard when he looked at his son. " You're siding with _him_ now?" He sounded vaguely angry, but mostly disappointed. " Do you even know who he is?"

" I know well enough." Chris lifted his chin.

" So you made your decision, hm?" Leo glared. " You will turn your back on your brother and side with _him._" He glared at Cole.

Chris was speechless at this, and Cole could feel the young one tremble in dismay. Seeing Chris in trouble gave him the courage to put aside his own insecurities.

" You are no longer in the position to judge him." Cole stepped up to Leo so that they were nearly nose to nose. " Or me." He looked into Leo's eyes. " While you were up there, doing whatever you were doing, your precious _Wyatt_ captured your younger son and tortured him till he nearly died. _I _got him out. _I _cradled him in my arms. _I _saved his life and _I _held him as he wept in agony when it should have been _you_."

Leo had paled at Cole's words. " You're lying." He whispered. " Wyatt would never do that. He would never do that to Chris."

" You don't know your own sons." Cole spat. " You are a fool. Your heart isn't big enough to love more than one child. And you chose poorly." He saw Leo begin to retort, and cut him off, saying, " Don't come back here, Leo. You're not welcome, and you have no right to Chris. He's mine."

_Oh…_he had not meant to say the last part. He got caught up in the heat of the moment…but it did not matter in the long run. Leo, pride wounded and eyes narrowed, sneered at his words, color returning to his cheeks, a dark red.

" Fine." Said the whitelighter. " You can have him. I don't want a thoughtless child anyway."

In a flurry of orbs, he was gone.

" That son of a bitch…" Billie hissed. " No wait, I think his mother was actually a good person. That shitheaded bastard. Chris," She turned to the teen, who was visibly struggling to hold it together, " Look, don't listen to your father. Your father's an ass. It happens. It has nothing to do with you. It's him. In fact, what am I saying? He's not your father anymore. You have no obligation towards Leo Wyatt."

" Chris?" Cole called, feeling worried. _I shouldn't have said he was mine._ He thought. _That slip of tongue—would it ruin things?_

" Thanks, Billie…Cole." Chris smiled a watery smile at Cole, but it was nevertheless grateful. " I…I think I'm gonna go lie down for a while now."

He then turned around and left the room without looking back. The Resistance members were quiet, looking after him in worry.

" Fuck it." Billie spat. " I don't give a rat's ass what Chris says. I'm blocking Leo out of all the bases so he can't get to him anymore."

" I'll help." Said Charlie, equally vehemently.

Sardo, on the other side of the cafeteria, caught Cole's eye and inclined his head toward the door where Chris had exited, indicating that this time around Cole should follow him. Feeling awkward and uncomfortable, he went anyway. He found Chris in his room, sitting on the side of his bed, head in his hands.

" Chris?" Cole said softly, wondering if Chris really would want to see him right now. " Are you alright?"

Chris raised his head. He had not been crying, but his eyes were glassy. He rose from the bed and walked slowly over to Cole to seek a hug.

Heart tearing at the young one's pain, Cole obliged.


	9. Sunlight

Shadows Like Ghosts

Sunlight

That night Billie and Charlie cast the spell to bar Leo Wyatt from ever harassing at the bases again. The first thing Billie did the following morning was get someone to give her a haircut—that someone being a Valkyrie.

" I don't care as much about my looks as I do when I was younger," Billie declared when it was all done, " But you guys really suck at giving haircuts."

" You'll live." Said the Valkyrie. " It's more for efficiency than for style."

" Still." Billie frowned. " You think you can at least keep everything level and straight?"

The Valkyrie gave a lung-suffering sigh, before getting to work fixing Billie's hair.

" I'm not going to work too hard on this." Said the warrior woman. " The divisions are meeting up in thirty minutes and I'm not going to bother making you look like Aphrodite."

" I don't think Aphrodite has short hair." Billie retorted, but did not comment further.

Once everything was finished, Billie left the Valkyrie with a short but honest thank you, and headed to meet Charlie and the rest of the Resistance that were preparing to attack the Quarter base.

" Hi Billie." Said Charlie when she arrived. " Wow. Your haircut sucks."

" Give it a rest." Billie snapped. She was no longer so young, now in her late thirties—she really did not care if she looked like Marilyn Monroe or Hillary Clinton. As long as her hair is easier to manage, she was satisfied. " Is Cole here?"

" He's over there with Sardo." Charlie pointed. " They're trying to get all the potions in order. There was a minor spill."

" …" Billie stared. " What kind of spill?"

" One of the kids had a nightmare last night." Said Charlie. " Used hydrokinesis and had the potions sort of flying everywhere. Sardo is cleaning it up, Cole is helping him."

Ever since Chris and Cole bonded, Cole had been so helpful. Billie found herself smiling. _Even if Leo is an absolute prick, with Cole in his life, maybe Chris will finally feel better about himself._

" Hey," Chris emerged in a flurry of blue, " You guys ready?"

He looked uncomfortable, but not overly upset. Like the natural leader he was, he had snapped out of his own gloom to attend to current affairs.

" Yup." Billie replied, not surprised by this. " Don't worry. We all know what to do."

Chris nodded at this. " Good luck."

oO

The Quarter base was one of the few actual forts where it even looked like a castle. On top of the walls darklighters were on the lookout, their crossbows a very effective weapon for long range defense. Thankfully, the forest trees provided good cover, but there was no real good way of getting closer without getting caught. Billie held up a seashell to her ear.

" Charlie, this is Billie. You seeing what I'm seeing?"

" This is Charlie. We'll need to get into the fort without alerting the darklighters up there." Said Charlie.

Another Resistance member from one of the other bases spoke up. " This is Dae. They updated their security since the scout report. We might be better off if we shrink ourselves and make our way through. I don't see many guards on the ground on the south side."

Billie sighed. Shrinking in size means that travel would be a lot slower, but it does mean they will remain undetected. " When I give the order, get as close as you can without being seen and have one of the witches perform a spell to shrink everyone. We're going to have to be the size of ants if we want to get past the darklighters."

" This is Charlie. Understood."

" This is Dae. Understood."

" This is Vladmir. Understood."

Billie silently waved at the other members. Cole went to her side.

" Before you go in I should go in first." He reminded her.

" I know." Said Billie. " You should go now. When you're done, come back out here."

Cole hesitated, if only to reflect briefly that once upon a time, he had helped the Charmed Ones the same way. Funny how he was helping their son. With a shimmer, he went invisible and disappeared.

Cole returned in about half an hour. " Figured out how they were communicating."

" And?"

" As expected, palantir. I took it away." Cole replied. " We can go in. They have no way of contacting Wyatt now.

Billie grinned. " Charlie, Vladmir, Dae, we're good to go. Move to position and cast the spells." She waved at her squad and they moved nearer to the edge of the trees, just beyond the range of view for the darklighters. Billie herself recited the spell.

_" When large we are we can be seen,_

_So shrink us so that we're unseen."_

With a faint shimmer, undetectable by other observers, the squad shrunk down to the size of spiders.

" Alright." Billie looked at the huge boulders that used to be dirt particles. They were not too horribly big and actually rather easy to walk across. The fort loomed like a mountain.

" We're good to go," Billie winced. " Oh my god my voice is so high!"

Some high-pitched laughter followed, but no one was alarmed.

" Let's get going." Said Billie. " Thanks a lot, Cole."

" No problem." Said a disembodied voice, for Cole, who did not shrink from the spell, opted instead to be invisible. They saw the grass bend as he carefully stepped aside, to not crush them. " I have done all I can do here." He declared. " I will go check on Chris now."

" Okay." Said Billie, who agreed with this sentiment. Though Cole was somewhat invincible, there really was very little he could do in terms of offensive magic. " Take care of Chris for me."

They sensed him shimmer away.

The trip from where they were to the fort took a good twenty minutes, not to mention they were forced to kill a few ants and other insects along the way.

" This is Billie. We're in." Said Billie, wondering if the others would laugh at how high her voice was. But as it turned out, everyone else's voice was quite high as well.

" This is Charlie. We're almost in."

" This is Vladmir. We're in."

" This is Dae. We're about two minutes away."

Once everyone was inside, Billie commanded everyone to cast the spell to change them back to normal size. Chris's plan of action was to eliminate the demons a group at a time until the inside of the fort was clean, and then deal with the darklighters at the walls. As soon as Billie's squad returned to normal, a team of demons walked into the same room. They froze in shock, and Billie amplified the other squad member's powers and the demons were destroyed before they could so much as speak.

" Good." Billie nodded. " One group down, 'x' amount to go. Let's get moving, people."

oO

Cole had been a leader before—after all, he had been the Source, but Chris was a different leader than anyone he has ever met. He had shimmered into the base to find Chris babysitting a group children while their parents attacked the Quarter base by reading out loud from a storybook.

Cole had watched this before with impassivity, but secure in his fondness for Chris and Chris's fondness for him, he viewed this scene in a new light and felt, wryly, that Chris would have made a much better Emperor than Wyatt. If _Chris_ had decided to take over the world, Cole did not think many people would have minded, other than demons, perhaps. But then, maybe it was because Chris would never decide to take over the world that he would have made a better Emperor.

" He looked around…and there was Sara." Chris grinned. " That's the end of the chapter, guys."

" Read another!" Cried a chorus of young voices.

Chris looked up to see Cole. " My voice is really dry, people. I've been reading to you folks for an hour.

" Awwwww…"

" Hey," Chris set the book aside, " I need to talk with Cole over there, I'll be right back, okay? You guys stay put."

He went over to Cole while the children started chatting among themselves.

" I'm going to assume from your expression that things are going as planned?" Chris began.

" They're commencing the attack now." Cole replied. " I must ask…why the Quarter base though?"

" Billie." Chris replied. " You know that reality-altering power of hers?"

" …Yes?"

" That fort is located half a mile away from a site where there are many intersections to the web of reality." Chris replied. " We conquer that area, we can set it up as a base and begin conquering other areas and Billie can use her powers to manipulate that intersection and add odds in our favor."

_Whoa._ " Wyatt does not know about this?"

" He knows, but he probably didn't anticipate us attacking him now." Chris answered. " It's been about four years since he first took over the place. Timing is everything."

_Indeed._ " How come Wyatt hasn't used that base to his advantage?"

" Billie." Chris repeated his first answer. " She _is _the third most powerful which in the world, no matter what. The Resistance bases, also, were established at other intersections that Wyatt was not able to take. It's how we've been keeping our balance all these years."

" I see." Cole had a vague recollection of that now.

" By the way," Chris told Cole as he stepped back to return his attention to the youngsters, " I never got a chance to show you the supposed 'words of truth'. Remind me later to do that."

Chris had been too distraught to even think about such a thing yesterday. Cole found himself smiling. " Alright." He said.

Since Chris was busy, Cole made his way down to the conference room. Along the way, he heard Billie's voice reporting. " We've taken care of three rooms in the basement of the north wing. Warders are currently setting up barriers and portals."

" Copy that, Billie." Cole heard Sardo reply. He turned to look into the room where Sardo and several other members were listening to the transmissions.

" This is Vladmir. First floor of the entire West Wing has been occupied, barriers erected, and portal installed. Please send reinforcements. Caution: Dark Lighters and other defenses on the outer wall are close by."

" Copy that." Said one of the members listening. " Vladmir, how many darklighters and defenses are on the outer wall?"

" Estimation, about several hundred all around. They do not appear to be making rounds in any specific pattern." Suddenly, in the background there were sounds of fighting. " This is Vladmir! We need reinforcements, _now!_"

Sardo sprang to action. " Harry, this is Sardo. Send you troops to the blue portal immediately. Repeat, send your troops to the blue portal, immediately!"

" This is Harry. Copy that, Sardo. Come on, everyone!"

The group listened anxiously. Cole glanced at the elf, who did not look up at him. He was too busy. Suddenly, Billie's voice spoke, filled with alarm.

" We have been detected by the outer defenses!"

Sardo shot to his feet. " Amanda! Send your troops to the green portal!"

" We haven't set up the portal!" Billie's voice interrupted, and she was interrupted when someone apparently attacked her. There was a crack, like static, and then silence on her side.

Sardo looked up at Cole. " They need Chris."

Cole thought quickly. The chances of Wyatt showing up are small—he had gotten rid of the palantir. He did not want to have to put the boy through this, but Chris could turn the tide around. Besides, Cole will be there. He had to be. " I'll go get him."

oO

To his credit, Chris did not even hesitate, except to ask, " Can you come with me?" Cole surprised himself by impulsively smacking Chris at the back of the head, to which Chris laughed nervously and then orbed away. Cole barely had the mind to shimmer with him. He had not meant to do that to Chris. But perhaps he was getting so comfortable with the boy…

If Chris was nervous around the demons, which Cole knew he was, he did not let this hinder his ability to fight them. Chris had inherited his mother's powers of blasting demons to bits, and in a way, his powers were even stronger than hers. With sheer focus of mind, he could even blast multiple demons and darklighters at once. Billie, who was holding her own with her reality-changing magic, but unable to take care of the other members of the squad, rushed over to Chris to amplify his powers. Chris telekinetically crushed several demons at once, causing them to burst into flames, and in several minutes the band of what must have been more than a hundred minions were turned to ash.

" Fuck," Chris swore anyway, because three members of the squad were heavily injured. He hurried over to them. " Hang on guys!" And in a brilliant swirl of orbs, the four of them disappeared.

" Shit." Billie hissed. " We triggered some alarm. More demons are gonna come this way. You better get Chris back because I was barely able to hold my own against them. They must have grown more powerful somehow!"

Cole did not even wait until she finished. As he appeared back at the base, Chris was screaming for whitelighters. He grabbed the boy's arm.

" You better get back. I'll take care of this."

Chris froze, and Cole knew that the child was worried he would have to face Wyatt alone. " I'll be there as soon as the whitelighters come. Go!"

Face pale and eyes wide, Chris nodded and he orbed.

" Whitelighters!" Cole yelled.

oO

" Give me the com!" Chris ordered Billie as soon as he reappeared. " Vladmir! Charlie! Dae! This is Chris! Hurry up and set up the portals! We're going to distract the demons at this fort and localize them in the north wing! Get reinforcements as fast as possible!"

Before he even finished, more demons came. One of them threw an athame at Chris, who, too busy talking, could not orb the athame away and was forced to dodge.

" You filthy worms!" Billie screamed, half out of panic and half in the hopes that some of them _would _actually turn into worms. Unfortunately, only about five of them did. The remaining demons swarmed the room, and even though Chris was able to blast multiple at once, there were so many that Billie was finally shot by a Darklighter's arrow. Ignoring the pain, she pulled the arrow out and threw it at one of the darklighters, using her telekinesis to speed things along.

_Suckers._ She thought, as she watched Chris wipe out their attackers like an war elephant plunging through an army. It was really a big blow that even when teamed together, they still could not defeat Wyatt. _Why is Wyatt so God damn powerful? Why couldn't it be Chris?_ She ducked a fireball and threw an athame, while someone used pyrokinesis on a warlock and yet another levitated over Billie's head to dodge an attack.

She whirled around and swayed. _Shit._ The Darklighter's poison was affecting her more than it should. Behind her was a warlock, and she barely stumbled out of the way as he threw a potion at her.

" Billie!" Chris had sensed something was wrong with her. Then, in a panic, he telekinetically ripped the warlock to pieces. Blood and flesh flew about the room as the man burst.

" Shit, watch it, Chris!" Someone yelled. Chris ignored them, flipping in the air to dodge a fireball and conjuring an energy ball before throwing it at the door. As it sailed it split into multiple energy balls. The demons howled as they were hit, disappearing into ash. The warlocks stumbled back, and Chris telekinetically smashed them out the door.

Cole shimmered in, then, just as a Darklighter was shooting an arrow at one of the squad members. The arrow bounced off him in its path almost comically. Cole did not even flinch. He was looking for Chris.

" Cole!" Chris cried, even as he swept his arms out in an impressive display of magic. " Get Billie out! She's wounded!"

" I'm not leaving you here! Are you crazy?" Billie shouted back, even as darkness started to cloud her vision. _Darklighter poison's been improved…_

" Get her out!" Chris yelled, and Cole wasted no time grabbing on to Billie's shoulder. They disappeared.

" Chris, this is Charlie. We're set up at the west wing and reinforcements are coming."

" Copy that!" Chris yelled, as he fought off another warlock. He suddenly saw the warlock's face and his insides froze. He knew this warlock. _No…_vision tunneling in until the man's smirk seemed to fill his whole world, Chris stopped moving, fear immobilizing his body. Murmurs of more reinforcements coming resonated in the background, but Chris could not hear them. He saw the warlock smirk even more, and then a flash of hot pain as his shoulder was impaled by a Darklighter arrow he had no way of blocking or avoiding. The poison spread through him and his legs folded under him. From both the venom and the terror, he blacked out.

oO

" I should play the shimmery." Chris heard Cole say as he came to. " Shimmer all the wounded to you whitelighters, then shimmer them newly healed back to the battlefield, and then shimmer them back to you again."

The man's tone sounded joking and light. Chris frowned a little. What happened?

But everyone seemed to be happy for some reason. The entire Resistance seemed to be in light spirits. _What?_ He opened his eyes.

Cole was still talking. " We can change the Mary Poppins song to, ' Shim shimmery, shim shimmery, shim shim, shiroo, I do what I likes and I likes what I do'."

This was incredibly weird. " Who are you?" Chris asked. Even though he could feel Cole's almost overwhelming joy, the idea of Cole _singing _silly songs from Disney movies was just absurd.

Cole's expression fell. " …I'm Cole Turner…" He trailed off, obviously thinking that Chris had lost his memories again.

" No you aren't." Chris lifted himself up. His shoulder still felt sore. " Cole would never sing. Hell, he only cracked one joke the entire time he's been here, and it was a lame one."

Cole's expression lifted again. " That was not a lame joke. And can you blame me?" Asked the undefined being. " After the scare you gave all of us. You needed five whitelighters to heal you for an hour. Do you have any idea how terrified I was?"

_Huh._ Cole did feel giddy, Chris realized. He felt so relieved that he was almost silly, which explained the strange singing.

Which then reminded Chris of why Cole was worried.

" What happened at the fort?"

One of the whitelighters grinned. " We totally kicked their asses!"

" Billie's squad tripping the wires, plus Cole's shimmering deal, ended up making things work out for us." Another whitelighter explained. " Because everyone had localized to the north wing, that left the other three squads free to take over the rest of the fort. By the time you were shot by the arrow, reinforcements had already come and we took over the fort."

" We did?" Chris stared, hardly able to believe their good luck. After all he had been through, he was no longer so willing to count on luck.

" Yup. We rock." The whitelighters laughed. " And guess what, _no _casualties."

" Is Billie okay?" Chris asked, still finding it hard to believe.

" I'm fine." Billie grinned. She was thinking, it figured that with Chris they could go on missions where they do not lose anyone. Of course, they also had Cole to thank for. " Your Uncle Cole is a lifesaver."

Cole blinked at her, but Chris did not seem to react to the term 'uncle'. " Oh my god." The teen exclaimed. " We got the fort."

" We got the fort."

" We got the fort!" Chris let out a whoop, then winced as he aggravated his aching shoulder. " Ow. Hey, what happened here?" He gestured at his shoulder.

" Darklighters' poison got stronger. It took longer to heal and…" John stared at his shoulder with some dismay, " Probably was harder to heal completely too. Sorry."

" Well…" Chris then beamed. " Who the hell cares? We won!"

Cole smiled.

" Now we can start the next plan of action," Chris remarked, not noticing the looks of slight annoyance and amusement. Ever the leader, he would never be distracted by current achievements when there was more to be done. He hopped off the cot he was lying on and ran past Cole. " Come on Billie." He called.

Billie and Cole exchanged an amused look. The blonde then followed Chris out. Cole watched them leave.

" He shouldn't have gotten shot by the arrow though." Said one of the whitelighters then, growing solemn. " It's so weird."

" Yeah. He is super good at dodging them." John agreed. " This is the first time we've had to heal him because of an arrow and he's been out fighting for years."

" You think it's because of what happened with Wyatt?"

The question was directed at Cole, who, growing grave at this revelation, did not reply.


	10. The Heart

Shadows Like Ghosts

The Heart

Cupids were supposed to be very charming beings, and Eroof was no exception. With his blonde curly hair, blue eyes, and boyish features, Cole imagined he would make a very good Apollo. Most of the time he was a very charming man to be with. He was funny, eloquent, charismatic, and wise. Unfortunately, his mission in life was something Cole held absolutely no interest in, and this annulled almost everything good about the angel.

" It's called 'the point of life'." Eroof emphasized. " Or 'the purpose of life'."

" If you haven't noticed already," Cole returned, mentally regretting having gotten himself involved with Eroof the other day at the cafeteria, since it seemed to open the opportunity for Eroof to turn his attentions on him, " I'm not exactly alive."

" That does not mean you should not still enjoy your existence." Eroof flashed him a shining smile.

_What ever happened to your empathy?_ Cole wondered with irritation. " If you don't stop setting me up with Billie, I'm going to steal your ring."

" You wouldn't." Eroof replied with confidence. " Besides, are you seriously telling me that you are not attracted _at all_, to Billie?"

Cole resisted the urge to grimace in disgust. Doing so would insult the witch in question, never mind that she was not actually present. No matter how crazy Eroof was being, Billie did not deserve to be insulted. " Billie is a lovely lady." He retorted. " But some things, no matter how lovely, simply shouldn't be. If you think Billie is so great, why don't _you _hook _yourself_ up with her?"

Eroof was not as gracious as Cole. " Ew!" He grimaced, his fair features scrunching up. " Me, with Billie? No. She deserves a different sort of man. Besides, I'm not Coop. Coop gets to fall in love with his charges. I don't."

Cole found himself smirking in satisfaction. " It's called 'the point of life'." He echoed Eroof's words right back at him. " Or 'the purpose of life'."

" Ha! Well-played, because I was about to say that I am not exactly alive." Eroof bit his tongue, grinning. " But fair enough. We do need a little procreation around here, however. One reason Wyatt is so strong is because he has so many under his command."

" Right." Chris walked in then. " And the Resistance is all about breeding more soldiers."

" Oi, just doing my job." Eroof folded his arms. " How are you doing, kid?"

" Just planned our next attack while we're on a roll. This time it's for another base because we're recuperating over here." Said the teen. " I am exhausted. I wish someone else would take charge. Namely, Billie."

" Nuh-uh." Billie's voice rang out at that, though neither Cole nor Eroof could actually see her. " Leadership goes to the one with the most competence and I am not even gonna _pretend._"

" I've accepted that." Chris frowned. " Wish we had more time to train, but if we take too much time Wyatt might catch whiff of the fact that he has just lost a fort. Cole, can you get rid of the palantir for us again?"

" I can," Cole replied without hesitation, " But I must ask you one favor."

" What is it?"

" Don't get yourself shot with a darklighter arrow again."

" I won't." The way Chris said it made Cole frown a little. " Eroof, out."

" Fine." Eroof frowned. He teleported out of the room.

" What is it?" Cole asked, realizing that Chris had wanted to talk to him alone.

" I can't go fight anymore." Chris said to Cole. " Not after last time."

" Alright," Cole said gently.

" No." Chris shook his head. " I froze again. I…" The color drained from his face as he remembered the face of the warlock. " I saw one of _them_ and I lost it."

" Chris, I may not be able to fight Wyatt for you, and I may not be able to save everyone at once." Cole looked into the boy's eyes. " But I meant what I said when I promised you, I won't let you get hurt again."

" I know." Chris's face contorted in distress. " I know that, Cole. But I still can't do it. I still can't fight him. Or any of them…" He sighed. " I wish I could get rid of this fear."

Feeling that a hug may be too much, Cole merely slapped the boy's upper arm. " Have faith in your own strength." He told the child. " I know your mother, I know your aunts, I know _you_. Trust that in time you will heal, and do not feel guilt if you're not ready yet."

" I hope you're right." Chris said gravely. " Because if this doesn't get better, I'm gonna have to step down whether they like it or not."

oO

Wyatt had no idea that one of his primary forts had been taken over by the Resistance. He had been too preoccupied with one of the earlier developments—that of Resistance activity in Colombia. Everyone knew that El Dorado was situated in Colombia, and that within the ancient and abandoned city was magic enough to reshape the entire universe. However, everyone also knew that ever since El Dorado had been abandoned thousands of years ago, no one has been able to enter the ruined city. Some secret password was needed to open the gates. Many have tried, but the city's defenses were so strong that either nothing happened, or the adventurers who sought to enter the city never returned.

" They had around six thousand members gathered at El Dorado." Said one of the warlocks. " The only reason possible is that they believed they had the right password. However, the gates require the right individual to say the password in order to open."

Wyatt clenched his jaw. He knew neither the password, nor who or what the individual must be.

" Who said the password?" Wyatt asked.

" Whitelighters." Said a leading Darklighter. " It must be because the right individual must be a whitelighter."

Wyatt shook his head. " We may learn more if we knew exactly what the inscription on the gates said."

The problem was, nothing evil could approach the gates without being overcome by its magical defenses.

" We need a whitelighter to approach the gates and retrieve the message." Wyatt began. " All Resistance members are protected by Christopher's spell against our influence. The only unprotected whitelighter that we are aware of is Leo Wyatt, but we cannot find him."

" Even if we do," Said a sorcerer, " It is doubtful if we can influence him to serve us. He is a fool, but he will not keep making the same mistakes."

" My lord," Said a high-leveled demon, " May I voice one other option?"

" Speak." Wyatt commanded.

" Though the gates require a whitelighter to open," The demon suggested, " I believe there is one being that cannot be killed by earthly magic."

Wyatt did not need further explanation. " Cole Turner has already shown that he is allied with the Resistance."

" He is a neutral being." Said a sorceress.

" No doubt, my lord," Said the first warlock, " If the Resistance can convince him to ally with them, you can offer him so much more. Merely summon him and promise to give him whatever he wants, and he can go to the Resistance, find the password, and perhaps even learn what individual is needed to speak the password in order to open the gates."

Wyatt was not entirely pleased with this suggestion, even though he saw merit in it. The Dark Lord was silent. He was thinking about the last time he saw Cole Turner. _" I won't let you get hurt again."_

Wyatt may not be as smart as his brother, but he was no fool. " There is nothing we can do to convince Cole Turner to join us." He suddenly said. " There was only one thing he wanted."

It was Chris. Funny how the source of all his troubles always centered around that little ingrate. When Piper died, his problem had been taking care of Chris. When he gathered enough power to take care of Chris, his problem had been Chris's betrayal. When he established his Empire, his problem had been Chris's Resistance. Everything that goes wrong in his life always had to do with Chris. And now, for some reason, Cole Turner had become fond of Chris, had allied himself with Chris and made himself the boy's protector.

_" I'm your older brother, you little piece of shit!"_

_" You are no brother of mine. My brother would never enslave anyone, no matter how mad he is!"_

" We cannot count on Turner." Wyatt declared. " He got what he wanted and we cannot change his mind, especially as no earthly magic can affect him."

" My lord," Said the seer who Wyatt first called when Cole Turner had rescued Chris from the dungeons, " May I speak?"

" Just say what you need to say."

" I believe that there is still a way to persuade Cole Turner." She began. " His heart has opened to Christopher Halliwell, but it has not necessarily closed to his first love."

" He made it clear that resurrecting Phoebe Halliwell is not one of his desires."

" Perhaps he does not know his own heart." The seer replied. " If forced to choose, there is no way to say he would not abandon Christopher in the hopes of winning back her love, as he had attempted so many times in the past."

" Hm." Wyatt considered this.

" To be safe, we can conjure a clone of the third Charmed One." One of the warlocks picked it up. " And threaten to take it away if Cole does not provide us access to the city of El Dorado. That way, we do not risk incurring the wrath of a Charmed One herself in our attempt to seduce Turner."

Wyatt shook his head. " Chris is an empath. He will instantly sense that it is a clone."

" Turner may not necessarily believe him."

" No." Wyatt thought back to the look in the man's eyes when he shimmered Chris away. " He _loves_ the boy." He frowned. " However, that fact may be used against him. Assemble the Warlocks." He ordered. " The fact that the Resistance did not enter El Dorado means that they have failed. Chris would want to find more information, and this is the perfect time to trick him."

Cunning as Chris was, Wyatt thought, his little brother was hardly infallible. He thought impassively to how the boy had frozen at the sight of the Dark Lord. _No. Definitely not infallible._

The next time he captures Chris, though, he will kill the boy dead.

Wyatt looked at the demons, wondering which demon he could afford to kill.

oO

The Resistance bases were all hidden by Chris's magic, which, unlike the magic he had used to block the door, were linked to his raw power rather than his concentration. The spells essentially kills anyone working for Wyatt who crosses the barriers, and there is no way to block or cancel out the spells unless Chris himself canceled them. The spells were too strong and specific for any number of demons, darklighters, or warlocks to destroy. Wyatt might be able to overwhelm the barriers if he tried, but there were other protections that would attack Wyatt, and to overwhelm the barriers the Dark Lord would have had to use all of his concentration and focus. Distractions could, in fact, be lethal.

Cole remembered seeing Chris, years ago, set up these barriers, the young still-fourteen-year-old anxious and fearful that the barriers would not work. At the time, Cole had been too disinterested to really care, but now he appreciated the _beauty _of the bases. The buildings were old, the facilities were old, but the magic was genius. At the bases young children could play and learn, mothers could nurse their infants, the wounded could rest—there were even recreational activities, with sports in the courtyard that was within the boundaries of the barriers, and arts and music and dance. It was amazing that a mere teenager had managed to create this sort of refuge. Billie had definitely amplified his magic, but the spells were Chris's idea.

Now he watched Chris direct the warders in what was once the Quarter base, using the same spells he had used before at the Resistance bases. He actually had a list of spells on a piece of paper, but the list of spells were composed of squares, circles, and triangles. These obviously meant something to Chris, who would look to the paper every now and then and recite a spell under his breath. Billie would amplify Chris's magic as he completed each spell.

" Damn." Said one of the warders. " Never thought demons to be the polished type but check it out. We need to get things more like this rather than the crap we have at the bases."

" Yeah, about that," Billie remarked apologetically, " Haven't been so good about maintenance lately. I'm gonna go fix stuff like the cafeteria tables and anything else that's broken."

She was referring to her reality-changing powers, which, just as she had dried herself by will alone and had changed the demons and warlocks into worms, could fix and transform many things at the base, including people. In fact, the only living person Billie could not transform was Chris. His magic was too strong, and anything she tried simply had no effect on him. _" Otherwise," _she had told Cole, _" I'd have taken away his pain already. And kicked Leo's ass, but Mr. Moron here wouldn't let me."_

" Done." Chris finally breathed out a sigh, satisfied. " Wyatt has officially lost a reality-changing base. We can station witches here and whitelighters, as well as several others to guard but the spells are in place. I'm gonna head back to the Cal base to see how the next attack is progressing."

He looked at Cole before orbing out. Cole obligingly followed. They reemerged in the conference room.

Charlie was the one listening to the transmissions, as Sardo was out on this particular mission.

" This is nuts." He said to Chris. " Either Wyatt doesn't have a clue we're doing this, or this is all a trap."

" Too risky of a trap." Chris shook his head. He looked gratefully at Cole as he said this. " Without the palantirs, or whatever those things are called now, it is actually very possible that Wyatt doesn't know about this at all."

" Can you make sure?" Charlie asked. " I mean, you slipped through Wyatt's defenses before. Maybe you can sneak into his headquarters and eavesdrop or something."

Cole glanced at Chris, who frowned a little.

" I don't want to risk Wyatt catching Cole. You never know if someone discovered a way to detect otherworldly beings and capture them."

Cole smiled fondly at Chris. " I'm not an otherworldly being." _That defeats the purpose of being _undefined_. _He was away at Wyatt's headquarters before Chris could respond. Wyatt was talking to his warlocks, and Cole had dropped in, unfortunately, at the end of the conversation.

" If we claim El Dorado," Said Wyatt, " We claim the Resistance. Wherever they are. Even my brother's spells cannot stand up against the magic in that city. This is our only mission for now, since the Resistance has been laying low ever since the last break-in."

_He doesn't know._ Cole realized instantly, and felt a little frustrated when Wyatt dismissed the warlocks. _At least I got what we wanted._

" He's interested in El Dorado?" Chris worried his bottom lip when Cole returned. " But he can't even approach that place, let alone claim it. He can't brainwash any whitelighter because there aren't any out there anymore. Everyone is here."

" Yeah, how do you know that?" Charlie asked.

" You weren't here when Kevin was around." Chris looked down. " Kevin gave me a list and ordered all the whitelighters here. Oh _shit_." The boy paused. " He can't."

" What?" Charlie demanded.

" There _is _one whitelighter still out there." Chris replied. " Or Elder, depending on what position he's assumed by now."

" Oh _shit._" Charlie echoed Chris's earlier words. " Your father's not _that _stupid is he?"

" He still has this crazy idea that Wyatt can be 'turned back', as if anything had turned Wyatt in the first place except Mom's death." Chris said bitterly. " If he's still researching, I don't know. We should get him down here, force him here in case Wyatt decides to use him."

" Uh, about that…" Charlie suddenly grinned nervously. " Billie and I sort of…blocked him."

Chris stared. Silent seconds ticked by.

" What the fuck did you do that for?" Chris demanded in a low voice.

" He was pissing us off." Charlie gestured at Cole. " Besides, you have Uncle Cole here."

Once again, Cole found himself nearly flinching at the term, but Chris did not even seem to hear it.

" What if he needs our help?" Chris stared suddenly at the wall. " That's what he's been trying to do the last few times. He's been trying to get our help and we've been kicking him out."

" Screw him." Charlie snapped dismissively. " You need to accept that you are who you are and that your father's a douchebag. You don't have any obligation towards him. Stop pining after him!"

" I'm not pining!" Chris slammed the table, accidentally breaking part of it off. " Fuck!" He yelled, kicking at the splintered wood. " It's not just about him needing help! What if he's the whitelighter, huh? He could get Wyatt into El Dorado once he deactivates the defenses with the password! For all you know, Wyatt could have him already and had already gone in to El Dorado and it's goodbye for all of us!"

The boy was frightened, Cole knew, so he pointed out as soothingly as he could, " Leo does not know the password. No one has figured it out for millennia. Even if Wyatt does have your father, he has no way of getting into El Dorado without the password."

This seemed to cut through Chris's mind, and he deflated. " Yeah, you're right." He nodded. " I still need to show you the password. Damn, I keep forgetting."

" Don't worry about it." Cole turned to Charlie, who was pale and nervous. " I'll go check to see if Leo has been captured. You haven't cast the spell over the Quarter base, so I should be able to bring him there."

" Yeah, do." Chris said quickly. " And let me know. Though don't…" He paused.

" You won't need to see him." Said Cole, understanding the young one's trouble. " Just tell me where he is."

" He's at magic school." Chris said dully.

" Magic school?" Cole stared in bewilderment. He remembered that place being attacked by Wyatt. Wyatt had killed all the children. " Why would he be there? Wyatt did not kill him there?"

" Yeah." Chris hung his head. " I set up the same spells around that place when I learned he wasn't coming to the bases with me, that he was gonna stay there. I couldn't just leave him there. Shut up." He snapped at Charlie as the other man groaned. " I'm still not finished with you." Charlie instantly looked remorseful. " Anyway, I'm just nervous that he's there by himself. Around the bases we have other warders and other barriers that aren't mine, but up there he only has my magic protecting him and he's all alone."

Chris really did have a noble heart. " I'll be back." Cole said.

Emerging at Magic School, Cole took a moment to look around. Wyatt did not have Chris's strategic foresight, and therefore did not know to destroy or steal the books in the school in the heat of battle, so most of the books lay scattered but untouched. The emerging Dark Lord had been far more interested in taking lives than taking resources. It was only after this brutal massacre that Leo Wyatt had finally realized what his eldest son had become. Rather than allying himself with the younger, however, Leo had been convinced that Wyatt had been turned somehow, and had viewed Chris's Resistance as a betrayal. Chris did not share Leo's views, having grown up alongside Wyatt and seen the transformation, and felt that Leo's insistence on his theory to be a betrayal of Chris himself, and to be a show of continued favoritism of the Twice-Blessed one. The rift separated the two ever since, with Chris leading the Resistance and doing his best to fight against Wyatt's forces and provide refuge for free beings, and Leo, apparently in magic school all this time, researching into the past trying to figure out where they had gone wrong and when Wyatt might have been turned.

Cole found Leo, looking through books, as expected. Leo glanced up at Cole when he entered the hall.

" You." Said Leo. He slammed the book shut. " What do you want?"

Cole thought of their last meeting, the words he had said to Leo, and Leo's hurtful reply. " You may not want your thoughtless son, but your thoughtless son is still worried about your safety."

" Hmph!" The whitelighter grunted bitterly. " He remembers me now, does he."

" You're the one to talk." Cole instantly defended. Just two months ago, he was not sure he could stand up against Leo, but Chris seemed to be a driving force that powered him to facing the whitelighter. " After all these years. And you didn't even know Chris was captured, tortured, _raped_, under Wyatt's commands."

" I know I'm a horrible father." Said Leo, flipping open the book he had been reading. " I remind myself of that every day."

Cole frowned. This was not really the way he imagined this encounter would go. He had imagined Leo would fling insults at Cole, that Leo would accuse him of being evil, of corrupting Chris, of even corrupting Wyatt, maybe, though that was preposterous. Cole had not even interfered in this world until Billie pestered him into rescuing Chris. He had no power to magically corrupt anyone either.

" What do you want." The whitelighter demanded, though his eyes had returned to the book.

Cole scowled a little as he sat down on the table across from Leo. " You're not as safe as you can be. Your son is worried about you."

" Yeah, he does that a lot." Leo spat.

Angry now, Cole slammed the table with his fist. " You really are quite amazing, Leo." He hissed. " After everything you put Chris through, he still cares enough for your well-being to risk having to tolerate your presence, and you aren't even the least grateful."

Leo slammed his book shut again. " Yeah? You think I don't know that?" Cole suddenly realized the man's eyes were filled with tears. " You think I don't tell myself that, every single day? I'm a retard. I know that. But I'm not _that _stupid. I know I hurt Chris. I don't need _you _to remind me. Even if Chris himself isn't evidence of that already, I get enough from his fellow _Resistance members._"

Confused, Cole was at a complete loss as to what to say. Leo did not give him a chance to come up with a response. The whitelighter was still talking.

" Wyatt was born at the manor." Leo's voice cracked as he spoke, and tears flew nearly horizontally out of his eyes as he blinked. His face contorted in self-loathing. " We knew he was powerful. The Twice-Blessed one. But we also knew that he could go either way. He could be good or evil. And with the Twice-Blessed one, we couldn't take any risks."

If Cole was speechless before, he was even more so now. _How on earth does that make any sense?_ He wondered, and was about to break in, but Leo spoke right over him.

" So we were careful." Leo went on. " I was careful. I wanted to make sure that Wyatt could never be corrupted. _Never._ It was why I spent so much time with him. With Chris, it's not even that he was less powerful than Wyatt, though that had a huge part in it. He was born at the hospital. He was going to be a good witch. No matter what. It was Wyatt that was more dangerous, Wyatt that was not only Twice-Blessed but could go either way. And when you're dealing with that kind of responsibility. I mean, your son is the most powerful being in the world. How do you raise him?"

_Now _Cole was incredulous because Leo was even saying all of this. _Is he actually opening up to _me?Cole thought in shock. Was Chris some kind of miracle worker? Giving Cole a family in the Resistance, making Leo open up—or maybe this was all Wyatt's doing when he flipped the world upside down and turned the rules around.

" It seemed more important that Wyatt was good than it was to spend time with Chris…at the time." Leo wiped at his eyes. His voice had broken so that his words were barely coherent. " It was also for Chris too. I love Chris. He's my son. I couldn't take the chance that one day Wyatt might hurt his brother, or his cousins. So all that time spent, teaching Wyatt morals. Maybe I tried too hard. Or it was simply never meant to work. And Chris," The man sobbed, " He was such a good boy. He _is _such a good boy. I neglected him, I hurt him and he's still so _good._ You know how much it hurts, to learn that all those years of raising a kid, devoting your heart and soul, and you wind up losing both of them—all those years, one big, giant mistake." Leo shook his head. He stopped sobbing. " When he killed the children, I simply couldn't accept that it was really him. My baby boy, my eldest son who I had spent so much time teaching and _loving_. And Chris came at the wrong time, said the wrong words, that Wyatt was evil and we needed to fight him. I was too…weak…to accept such a thing."

Cole had gone from shocked, to sympathetic, to slightly contemptuous. He remained silent, however, as Leo continued pouring his heart out to him.

" Every time I see Chris, I think of all the times I missed his birthday, his graduation, his sports game." Leo stared at his hands. " And every time Chris _speaks_ I get so _angry._ Not at him…at myself. I can't tolerate him. I keep wishing I could go to the past and change things around. I _hate _how he still cares about me. I wish he hated me, like a normal person."

" You are a selfish, pathetic fool." Cole was thoroughly contemptuous now. " You are so absorbed in your own problems, you don't even see how your actions hurt your son." He rose. " Nevertheless, Chris asked me to bring you down to the base so that you are protected from Wyatt."

" My other son." Leo laughed bitterly. " I've tried going to the bases, Belthazor. He has finally blocked me out."

" I am not Belthazor." Cole replied, annoyed. " And blocking you was done without Chris's knowledge. It was Billie and Charlie. There is one base now that you are not blocked from and I am taking you there."

" No." Leo replied adamantly. " I am staying here."

" What for?" Cole snapped. " You think you can find out where you went wrong from a bunch of _magic books_?"

" It was what I had been trying to get Chris's help with." Leo replied. " I think Wyatt was turned by a demon,"

Cole was about to snap again, or downright hit the man for being so _thick_, but Leo's next words stopped him.

" And I might know exactly when that happened."


	11. Claiming Rights

Shadows Like Ghosts

Claiming Rights

" What the hell are you talking about?" Cole demanded.

" Wyatt's soul was corrupted." Leo said tiredly. " You wouldn't understand."

" Tell me now." Cole ordered darkly.

Leo glanced sideways at him. He seemed to consider not saying anything, but in the end, he replied, " Wyatt's soul was corrupted." Leo repeated. " Sometime before Chris was born. I narrowed it down to within a year, before Chris's birthday. I was hoping to get Chris to travel back in time to stop it before it happens."

Cole was dumbstruck. That seemed to be happening to him a lot, lately. He wished he had paid more attention to the Halliwells back then to prove Leo wrong, but he could hardly remember that year, except that Chris's birth had been a troubling one.

" Within a year. You said you knew _exactly _when Wyatt was corrupted. A year isn't that specific."

" After nineteen years, how specific do you want me to be?" Leo shrugged dispassionately. " But I'm not leaving this place unless Chris agrees to help."

A silence fell.

" You want…Chris…to travel back in time…" Cole finally said slowly.

" Yes."

" Do you know what demon targeted Wyatt?"

Leo looked resigned. " No. I just know it happened within that year."

Once again, Cole could find no words to say for a moment. " You want…Chris…to travel…back in time…" He repeated.

" Yes." Leo reaffirmed impatiently.

" …Without knowing what he's doing or what he's looking for…"

Leo, who had been about to say more, fell silent at this.

" …Possibly endanger his very existence…just because you think someone corrupted him."

" I don't _think_, I _know._"

" You said you _thought._" Cole spat back, furious. " You just said you _think_ Wyatt was corrupted by a demon."

" It might have been a warlock or darklighter."

" That narrows it down a lot!"

" Listen," Leo shot to his feet so that he was facing Cole at the same height, " I'm not as smart as Chris, alright? I can't figure out riddles and puzzles the way he can. All I know is, Wyatt was corrupted somehow within a year before Chris was born. That was it. I wanted Chris to figure out who and go back in time to fix this."

" Oh for the love of God! Everything is about Wyatt! What if Chris can't figure out who it is either?"

" Then he just has to go back to the past himself and figure it out the hard way."

Cole wanted to punch the man. Actually, he wanted to throw fireballs and energy balls at the man and blast his blue orbs to pieces so they can never hope to reform again, but he does not have such a power and he held back his punch with a determination that could probably rival Chris's.

" Why don't _you _go back to the past." Cole spat. " He's been through hell and you want to put his life in even more danger? It's never enough for you, is it?"

Leo clenched his teeth. " I can't go back."

" Why not?"

" Because I've tried already." Leo replied. " Wyatt anticipated this. He knew I would try to go back. It's been the big argument between me and Chris all along—of course he'd find out. He has done something to close off all time portals. I can't get through."

_Convenient._ Cole thought with disgust and dismay. It was not that he did not believe Leo. It was merely that, once again, Leo proved to be completely useless.

" You risk your son's existence." Cole remarked.

" I'm trying to save both of my sons."

" You're sure about this." Cole went on. " That Wyatt was corrupted by outside forces."

" Yes." Leo nodded. His eyes were intense.

_Could it be?_ Cole really regretted his past indifference towards the living world. Leo was certain, Cole knew. " Prove it to me." He ordered. When Leo merely stared at him, Cole barked, " Now!"

" It's up there, in the heavens." Leo was pale. " I can't get to it. Wyatt took over that place."

" Well I can." Cole glared. " Tell me what to find."

Leo hesitated. Cole could sense the man thinking about his options, of who Cole was, and what this could all lead to. " The Elders can read destinies through a crystal." He explained. " Each person has a crystal."

" You don't have the power to read crystals." Cole replied stiffly.

" No." Said Leo. " But I do know how to look at them from the outside and read whether the crystal is light or dark."

Cole did not have to hear any more of this. Even he knew how to read whether a crystal is light or dark. It was very simple. If the crystal is clear, the person is destined for good. If the crystal is opaque, the person is destined for evil. " What was Wyatt's? Cloudy?"

" It was opaque." Leo hung his head. " But I guess my refusal to believe in things led to something this time around. I was convinced that it wasn't originally opaque, and it wasn't."

" How did you know?"

" Lots of testing." Leo sighed. " I took a piece off of it and tested it. I found out it wasn't part of the original crystal."

" What wasn't part of the crystal?"

" The opaque substance." Leo answered.

" You're going to have to show this to me."

" I can't go back up there—"

" I can and I can take you with me." Cole said angrily. " Wyatt's minions won't even know."

Leo merely nodded, and Cole felt another wave of disgust as he realized that Leo would do anything to save his precious Wyatt. _Wyatt_ _ is still his son. You would do no less if Chris were corrupted._ But Cole would never be so foolish as to give up repenting, and that was how he was different from Leo. Leo did not even try to make up for his mistakes. He took Leo's wrist roughly and they emerged in the halls of the Elders.

The halls were in ruins, the ceilings a rubble on the ground and a cloud of debris floating over everything. Where once the place had been a sanctuary of music and peace, all was silent and dead. Occasionally the silence of the ruins was broken by the sounds of warlocks and demons, cackling and laughing. They were bored; there was no one here and nothing good to destroy.

The crystals, however, were protected by a power even stronger than that of Elders, and perhaps even if Wyatt could get to them, he would leave them alone. Destroying the crystals had no impact on anyone or anything—they were merely there to provide information about their respective individuals, which was why Leo was able to break a piece of Wyatt's crystal with no consequence. Cole found himself wondering, as Leo led the two of them down the cracked corridors, whether the Avatars had anything to do with the way things were now. Perhaps they were merely reclining, as they were, watching Wyatt ruin the world; after all, Avatars promote power, not good or evil, and Wyatt had much power to spare.

Under Cole's invisibility, Leo showed him the room where all the crystals were stored. It was a gigantic, magnificent room, lit by the magical light of the crystals themselves. Billions and billions of crystals lined the walls, showing individuals and their natures from the beginning of Good and Evil. Leo led Cole to the wall where an opaque, blue crystal was inbedded next to a clear, green one.

Cole looked at the green one. " Is that Chris's?" He asked.

Leo looked away. " Yes." He said after a pause.

Chris's crystal was beautiful. It was so clear and perfect that Cole could see what was behind it as if it were not there. Were it not for the green color and the reflecting light, Chris's crystal would have been invisible. Cole glanced up to see other crystals, one of them a clear but vibrant red.

" That one is Phoebe's." He stated.

" Yes." Leo looked at the clear purple one next to hers. Piper's, no doubt.

Cole looked at Phoebe's crystal, unsure of how to feel. Perhaps he did still love her, but for some reason, he found his eyes drawn back to the green crystal next to Wyatt's. It sparkled even more than a diamond. He reached out and pulled at it.

" What are you doing?" Leo asked, his voice tight.

Cole did not answer, but he reached out and pulled Wyatt's crystal out as well. The opaque stone was not ugly, per say, but its significance was not like Chris's. He glanced up at Phoebe's stone but did not pull it out.

" Let's go back." Cole said, and they appeared in the magic school again.

He glanced at the crystals and felt already that Leo might be right about Wyatt.

oO

At the base in China, the troops returned with five wounded but no casualties again, and Chris stood to the side with a mix of elation and frustration as the whitelighters healed the injured.

" Another base down." Said Chris. " We can have one more, but then we'll have to give it a rest for a while. Where is Cole?" He switched topics in irritation.

" Aren't you always the one yelling about having patience?" Asked a leprechaun, who startled Chris so much that he nearly stepped on him.

" It's been an hour." Chris frowned. " I hope they're not in trouble."

A Taoist nun walked up to Chris then.

" Shall we prepare to ward the base?" She asked in Chinese.

Chris, thanks to his whitelighter abilities, understood her. He nodded at her. She called to the other taoist priests and they disappeared in an elegant wave of light.

" This one's gonna be interesting." Charlie said, who came with Chris from California shortly after the attackers returned to the Chinese base. " Taoist magic is really weird. It's so stable because it draws from the environment itself. Wyatt's gonna have to nuke the place if he wants to break the barriers."

" We'll see how their defenses hold up." Chris replied, feeling a bit doubtful. He knew that Taoist magic was different from Wicca, but it was more buffing, than attacking or defending. " Can you check to see if Cole went back to the Cal Base?"

" I told them to call us if Cole entered either one of the bases." Said Charlie with a long-suffering sigh. " He's gonna be alright. He's Cole Turner, master extraordinaire of _not dying_, as the Charmed Ones had proven _again and again_."

" Doesn't mean he can't get hurt." Chris replied uncomfortably. " I wish I knew what he was doing."

" You could always try to go to magic school yourself." Said the leprechaun.

" That's a lousy idea." Charlie remarked before Chris could say anything. " If Cole Turner's not back yet, what makes you think Chris can help? We kind of want him to stay with us, you know!"

" I could go," Chris broke in, though reluctantly.

" Hell no." Said Charlie, glaring at him. " This isn't just about whether or not you can handle seeing that bastard. What if they really are in danger? You could get captured again."

Chris paled visibly and kept quiet.

" Sorry kid." Said Charlie apologetically. " But have faith in Uncle Cole. He's pulled through before for all of us."

" You know," Chris broke in, " I really want to know when people started calling him 'Uncle Cole', especially when _I _haven't even called him that yet."

Charlie and the leprechaun grumbled a little but did not answer.

" What," Chris blinked. " Nothing?"

" It caught on after Billie's joke." The leprechaun explained. " Some people didn't know he wasn't actually your uncle and kept calling him your uncle, and we just kind of went along with it."

" Well you guys, put an end to it." Chris said. " Especially as I don't want word going around to _his _ears that everybody thinks he's my uncle."

" You don't like the nickname?" Charlie cocked an eyebrow.

" It's not about me, it's about _him._" Chris replied a little impatiently. " He was married to my Aunt Phoebe, you see. They divorced. And my mom and aunts, they hurt him afterwards when he tried to repent. They didn't give him a chance. If you keep calling him my uncle, he's gonna be constantly reminded of my Aunt Phoebe and what caused him to be what he is in the first place. It's gonna hurt him."

" I don't think he cares." Charlie and the leprechaun glanced at each other. " He's never talked about it."

" Of course he isn't gonna talk about it." Chris rolled his eyes. " It's a touchy subject."

" Really?" The leprechaun stared. " I was talking to him the other day about the Charmed Ones. He didn't seem all that bothered."

" Just stop calling him my uncle," Chris scowled. " And speaking of him, why the hell isn't anyone calling?"

" Uh, cuz he's not back at any of the bases yet?"

" Well, why isn't he back?"

Sensing their leader was in a particularly bad mood, the leprechaun poked the ground with his cane. " I'm just going to take off now." He said to Chris and Charlie. " You two have fun."

Chris muttered under his breath. " I'm going over to the base. You hang around here and take care of things here until I get back. And let me know when you hear from Cole."

Yi emerged out of the portal as soon as Chris left, wiping at his pants and cursing in Chinese.

" Hey Yi." Said Charlie. " You wouldn't happen to know if Cole is around, would you?"

" Cole?" Yi blinked. " No clue. I'm here to talk with Tsi Ying. Ei!" He called to one of the Taoist monks and shouted something to him in Chinese, but Charlie was not a whitelighter and had no clue what he was saying. The monk shouted back in reply, which seemed to make Yi more frustrated.

" What's up, buddy." Charlie walked over. " Scout trouble?"

" Well," Yi frowned, " Scouts are okay. None of them were discovered or anything. Just their reports aren't making any sense. Said that a bunch of demons emerged in Colombia. We're sure that El Dorado can't be opened by anything evil, right?"

After repeating this sentence several times, Charlie finally understood what Yi was saying. " Fairly certain. Only someone of pure good. It's why I was asking about Cole—he was supposed to be retrieving the only whitelighter left who might be able to say the password. You think Wyatt's trying to get into El Dorado?"

" We did have six thousand people in there for several hours." Yi said with some difficulty with the pronunciation. " No doubt Wyatt noticed and wanted to investigate."

" But unless Wyatt has Leo, and also has the password, which he can't have, there's no way for Wyatt to get in."

" Okay. Where is Chris anyway?"

" He's at the Mar base setting up protections with the warders."

" You tell him about the scout development?"

" Sure thing, Yi."

The nervous youth nodded and disappeared back into the portal.

Charlie huffed. " Damn. Now _I'm _starting to get nervous about Cole."

oO

Leo was right.

He showed Cole how the opaque parts of the crystal were of a different make than the rest of the crystal. He then showed Cole the sources he found in magic school that describe possible ways this could happen. The only time frame was during infanthood, particularly before the child turns two, and would grow a certain, constant, concentration until the entire stone is opaque. Leo had measured the concentration of the material to determine that Wyatt had been corrupted within a year before Chris was born.

Cole was not sure how he expected to react to this development. Save Leo, everyone had given Wyatt up as a lost cause, and accepted him as an evil lord bent on taking over the world and enslaving all beings. Cole had been no exception. If Leo's plan worked, and they could go back to the past and save Wyatt, this time period would be very different. The Resistance would not exist, the Empire would not exist, people would not be living in fear of Wyatt's power or dying on missions to feed themselves. Wyatt would be a power of Good, and life would be better for so many people.

But Cole barely registered these thoughts, even as a voice repeated to him, again and again, _This could save lives. This could save lives._ Wyatt would not have sent his underlings to kill Phoebe and Paige as he did in this lifetime. Phoebe would still be alive. She would be living with her husband, Coop, and her daughters, but she would be alive.

Once upon a time, that would be enough for Cole; for Phoebe to be alive and well. He loved her, after all. He wanted her to prosper and thrive and be happy, even if it was without him.

But Phoebe was not on his thoughts, not really. He was busy staring at the green crystal, the beautiful gem that was supposed to symbolize Chris. Clear, transparent, to symbolize his alignment. _A being of pure good._ It sparkled like a star as he turned it in his hand. _" I'd like having you as a father figure." _Basketball in the court. Really caring for him. _" I don't want to risk Wyatt catching Cole." _Seeking comfort from _Cole,_ when he ran away from everyone else. _" I still need to show you the password." _Nodding quickly, reassured by Cole's promise of being present.

He would lose it all. If Chris goes to the past, Cole would be all alone again. No one to care for except Phoebe who wanted nothing to do with him. Why would Chris trust him? He would have Wyatt, if not Leo. Everyone would have their lives back, but Cole would go back to that meaningless existence, always watching and never doing, as he sees how the world keeps turning without him in it. How Chris's world will keep turning.

_" I can't face him." _Chris had wept to Cole. _" I blanked out." _But Cole could not face the prospect of losing what he had finally found. _Uncle Cole is here._ But if this works he will not be Uncle Cole. No one will have faith in him, no one will care about him. _What will it take for you to just freaking die?_ And even if Cole approached Chris, even if Chris had the same powers of empathy, of judgment, as he does now…Chris would not want him. He could already see it. _You will always be evil._ But even if Chris did not believe that, he would never regard Cole the way he does now.

And Cole desperately needed Chris. With all his being.

" Cole, I've shown you everything." Leo broke into his thoughts. " Are you going to help me talk to Chris or not?"

" We can't send Chris back." Cole replied coldly. " They need him here. It's too dangerous."

" Well send Billie." Leo sighed. " She's a family friend and she's powerful enough, maybe she can fix this herself."

" No." Cole's eyes were steely. " No one's going into the past."

Understanding dawned on Leo. " You like it this way." He hissed, color rising in his cheeks. " You like this world. You like having Wyatt evil! It's been your plan all along, hasn't it?" He slammed the books he had been holding down on the table. " I thought you cared about Chris!"

" I do."

" No you don't!" The man spat. " You tricked me!"

Cole knew that Leo was going to start spewing the same insults the Sisters had spewed all those years. _You've been plotting against us. Deceiving us. Tricked us into telling you what you needed to know in order to stab us in the backs. _Leo's eyes flashed murder and rage. Cole felt sorry. The man was truly thinking of his sons this time. It was Cole, now, who was being selfish.

_I can't lose Chris._ He thought despondently, as he shimmered away before Leo could continue his rant. _I can't let Chris change the way things are. I can't lose Chris. I need him. I can't lose this son._

_I can't bear it if I do._

oO

Chris was not surprised to hear that Wyatt had been distributing forces in Colombia.

" We had six thousand people there." He echoed Yi's earlier point. " Of course Wyatt's gonna notice. I was just so overconfident in my decoding skills, I thought that was the very password."

" For all we know," Charlie replied, " It _was _the password, just not said right, or said by the right person. I dunno."

" We'll figure it out, but don't worry about it for now—Wyatt can't possibly figure out the password even if his demons are smarter than we give them credit for. It was pretty retarded for me to find it too. And even with the Book of Shadows, which probably isn't helpful anyway, Wyatt doesn't have the resources to figure it out. I had the Elders. He just had demon seers. Speaking of El Dorado, is Cole back yet?"

" Yeah." Charlie bit his lip.

" And?"

" No Leo."

" What?" Chris jerked away. " What the hell!" He orbed out before Charlie could say anything else. Cole was in the cafeteria, staring into space, holding a mug of coffee that a sympathetic woman had given him.

" What happened?" Chris demanded when he appeared in front of Cole, startling the man. " How come Leo's not at the base?"

Cole did not know what to say. Chris's eyes narrowed as his empathy picked up feelings of guilt.

Cole knew that Chris's empath abilities would pick up his feelings if he did not suppress them somehow. He took a deep breath and called upon his old abilities he had cultivated as Belthazor. " I couldn't make him come." He lied.

" Weird." Chris's eyes were still narrowed. " He seemed pretty eager to come here before. Coming here, twice."

" Yeah, well," Cole thought quickly, " He's not really a fan, I guess, anymore." He stared down at his cup, hoping to the gods that Chris would not sense him lying, or sense him hiding the fact that he had also used what little influence he had to adjust the protections around the new bases so that Leo could not orb there either.

Fortunately for Cole, while Chris did sense his conflict, he completely misinterpreted the reason. " Was Leo that cruel to you?"

Cole froze, silent.

Chris sat down in the chair next to him. " I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sent you over to him, what with the past between you and my aunt. Just no one else in the Resistance would even talk to him. They'd flip out. I wasn't really thinking, either. I was so worried." Chris shook his head. " I'm sorry."

" It's okay." Cole looked at the boy. His mind wandered to his pocket where Chris's gem lay. _Pure and clean. _

Chris's understanding did little to comfort Cole. If anything, it made him feel worse.

_I'm sorry. I'm condemning you to a life of tragedy and strife, son._ He thought as he looked at Chris, who was looking away, no doubt thinking of other Resistance matters. _I'm condemning you to a life of suffering._

_But…I'm okay with that, as long as I have you._

He will never be good. And this was not evil. This was merely selfish, selfish, _selfish _of him. He may be even worse than Leo, doing this, perhaps keeping Chris from the one way that could make the boy truly happy.

_But I need you too much, son._

_I need you too much._


	12. Cawing of Crows

Shadows Like Ghosts

Cawing of Crows

The third fort, which happened to be in Colombia, gave the Resistance several captives to interrogate, which was very strange, because normally demons do not surrender to Resistance members. In addition, some of these demons, like the current one, had not actually been captured at the fort, but rather, on the way to the fort. No one really knew what was going on—it might merely be a redistribution scheme of Wyatt's, or something bigger.

Chris was so traumatized by his own experience as a captive, that he could hardly bear to even look at them. As Chris's former babysitter, Billie had the honor of becoming a sort of over-protective mother to Chris as he interrogated the captured prisoners, which ended up with Billie asking the questions and inflicting the necessary pain, while Chris just stood there and watched. Or tried to.

Cole stood to the side but did not participate otherwise. Ever since he learned from Leo that time travel could be the answer to all of Chris's problems, he had been unable to bear being with Chris. Which was ironic, considering the entire reason he even lied to Chris was because he was unable to bear being _away _from Chris.

But in addition to Chris's empath abilities, which kept alerting the boy to the fact that something was wrong with Cole, Cole himself could not really bring himself to speak to Chris, knowing that he was condemning the boy to this life of war and trauma. _Some father figure you are. _He thought. Wyatt's words echoed back to him. _" You are quite a piece of work."_

" You know," Billie's sharp voice cut into Cole's thoughts, " Please, do refuse to talk. Because there's only one thing I enjoy more than torturing demons and that's eating ice cream. You see, even killing you guys isn't as much fun as torturing you."

Cole did not think Chris could handle that comment well, and indeed, the boy was very pale. But he had enough will to keep his mouth shut and let Billie do her job.

Cole reached over to touch Chris's shoulder. He felt the boy relax a little. _Chris doesn't know. He thinks you're uncomfortable because of seeing Leo and him pushing the wrong buttons, or pulling the wrong strings. He has no idea what a monster you are._

" Let me ask this again." Billie hissed. " What were you doing in Colombia?"

When the demon refused to answer, Billie touched the crystal and the demon screamed. Chris physically retreated until his back was pressed against Cole. Putting aside his own discomfort for the moment, Cole placed both hands on Chris's shoulders and squeezed.

The demon writhed even after Billie released it. " One more time!" She stated, almost cheerfully. " What were you doing in Colombia?"

" Finding…the…second…gate!" The demon gasped.

Chris stiffened. " What second gate? To where?"

" To the city!" The demon coughed.

" What city?" Chris demanded.

The demon laughed, but its laughter was abruptly cut off by screams as Billie pressed the crystal again to inflict more pain. She released it after a few seconds, and the demon gasped for breath.

" Answer the question!" She ordered.

" El Dorado." The demon gasped out. " We were looking for the second gate to El Dorado."

Chris was pale. He stared at Billie. " El Dorado only has one gate. Everyone knows that."

" No. Seer said…another gate…doesn't require password…or pure good being." The demon managed to say. " Just had to find out…where…"

Chris looked at Billie. " Find Sakura." He ordered. " We need to get them to El Dorado to see if the demon is telling the truth."

Billie nodded, leaving the room.

The demon started laughing. Chris stared at the demon.

" What are you laughing for?"

The demon went on laughing. One of the Resistance members, fed up with the sound, touched the crystal. The laughter was once again interrupted by screams.

" That will teach you about laughing." Said the man.

But the demon just started laughing again.

Cole stepped forward. " What are you laughing for?" He demanded. " Out with it!"

" Belthazor!" The demon hissed out, its yellow eyes hooking into his. " You are a pathetic fool…"

Cole stopped. _Huh?_

" You think that all is going well, don't you?" The demon laughed again. " Tick tock, tick tock, Belthazor!"

This time, it was Cole who touched the crystal. When the howls died down again the demon gasped out, " Your little nephew wannabe doesn't have that much time! Tick tock!"

" What are you talking about?!" Cole roared, losing his composure, but suddenly the demon burst into flames. Startled, Cole looked back around. Chris had his hands out, splayed the way his mother's would whenever she blasted things.

" We'll have to interrogate the others." Chris said in a very steady voice that contrasted with his pallor. He turned his eyes to Cole. " He was playing with you, Cole."

Cole stared. He knew Chris was right. He was just not sure why he did not know _then._ Demons often do this to their interrogators; Cole would know. Empty threats, lies, just to get under their captors' skin. He could not believe he fell for that—maybe all the years of merely watching had made him forget more than he thought. He had been genuinely terrified that something was happening to Chris, that something Cole had not realized was hurting Chris. _Tick tock! Tick tock!_

" Samantha, take over and tell me what you learn." Chris ordered. He took Cole's arm. " Let's go."

oO

" I am so exhausted!" Billie exclaimed. She had been going around ever since the first fort was conquered, manipulating reality with her powers the way Chris had ordered. Sakura, who she was retrieving, looked at her sympathetically. " Sakura, we need to know if there's any second gate to El Dorado."

The girl stared. " Uh…" Blinking rapidly, she managed to explain, " We'll need to…see El Dorado, I guess."

" Yeah, we're gonna arrange that." Billie replied. She turned around to see Sardo and a few other elves walking by. " Sardo!"

The elves stopped. " Billie." Sardo greeted.

" We need to arrange an escort for the oracles to El Dorado."

" I will need the most up-to-date scout reports from Yi." Sardo replied. He nodded at the other elves. " We will arrange one as soon as we can. And Billie," He added, as Billie began turning away.

" Yes?" She blinked, when the elf did not continue.

Sardo looked like he was trying to decide if saying anything was a good idea. " If you can," He finally said, " Keep an eye on Cole Turner."

" Why?" Billie frowned. She had not been around lately to notice anything, but Cole did not appear to behave strangely.

Billie knew, though, that Sardo was always an observant elf, even for his kind. He always seemed to be able to look deep into other people's hearts. The elf's eyes were troubled as he said, " Just keep an eye on him."

oO

In the end they had just gone to the cafeteria to get some coffee.

Cole had a feeling Chris was treating him the way he treated all Resistance members. Setting aside an allotted time to simply be with them and understand their troubles before trying to fix them. Unfortunately, since Chris _was _the source of his troubles, the boy had nothing he can fix. And perhaps Chris knew, which was why the young one was not talking to him. They simply sat, holding their cups of bad coffee, staring at the table.

" You've been acting weird ever since you went to get Leo." Chris finally broke the silence. " In fact, you've just been weird lately. What happened up there?"

" Nothing." Cole turned his head away, unable to look into those green eyes. Green like his crystal.

" Cole, there's nothing you can say that I haven't heard before. Leo's called me more names than…than I have hair fibers." Chris grimaced. As Cole's feelings plunged a little further, Chris guessed, " That's not it huh. Was he talking about how evil you were supposed to be, shit like that?"

_He was about to._ Cole felt his mood depress even further. Fortunately, Chris was not a psychic, otherwise he would have read Cole's mind, even though his empathy was making the situation very complicated. It was unfortunate that these passive earthly powers could still work on Cole when offensive earthly powers could not. _What utter rot, if Phoebe had her empathy powers when I was with her…_

" Cole, there's nothing anyone could do or say to make me doubt you." Chris said softly. The boy obviously was trying to guess what was bothering Cole. " I know how to read people. I know who you are. And I remember what you did for me, when I was suppressing my memories after…" He sighed. " I wish you would trust me."

Cole stared at Chris, feeling his lips turn up in a humorless smile. He tried for the safest excuse. " It's just personal." He said. _And it is._

Chris looked at him searchingly for a moment.

" I didn't mean to freak out like that." Cole looked away.

Several wood nymphs rushed down the hall outside the cafeteria. Their giggles effectively broke the solemn mood. Curious, Chris got up from his chair to see what was going on. Cole watched him leave.

" What are you hiding?" A voice hissed near his ear, startling him. Cole whipped his head around. It was Sardo. The elf's glare was directed at him now, and Cole felt as though the eyes were piercing into his soul. _If I even have one._

" What are you talking about?" Cole managed to ask.

The elf slid into the seat opposite the seat Chris vacated. " I know you are hiding something."

Cole considered his options. " It's nothing important." He looked to the door, where Chris was talking to the nymphs. He heard Chris laugh. When Cole turned his head around again, Sardo was still glaring at him, but then the elf rose.

" Chris has much faith in you." Sardo told Cole. " Do not disappoint him."

Cole felt like he had been punched in the gut. Sardo then walked away to the exit on the other side of the cafeteria.

" Don't wander beyond the boundaries!" Chris warned, as he stepped back into the cafeteria. He stared at Cole. " Are you alright?"

Cole swallowed. " Yeah, I'm fine."

Feeling that he could not risk staying too long in Chris's empath range, Cole abruptly got up and left without a word, leaving Chris behind.

oO

Blue orbs materialized outside the gates of El Dorado, with two whitelighters, ten elves, three witches, and five oracles. Sakura stepped forward in the dark to look at the inscription on the wall, before cautiously placing her hand against the rock. The other oracles looked at each other and did the same.

Sardo walked up to Billie as the group looked out for potential spies. " I am not certain," Said the elf, " But I think the third fort was a trap."

Chris would know for sure, Billie thought, but Chris did not go on the last two missions. " Why do you say that?" She asked, not surprised by this remark. Sardo was usually very perceptive, even for an elf, and Chris often trusted his judgment.

" We took captives." Said Sardo. " We never took captives in the other two."

" We overwhelmed them." Billie frowned. " They surrendered."

" Wyatt has advisors." Sardo pointed out. " He would not have left such an important location undefended. Not to mention he knew we were interested in El Dorado."

" You're saying he wanted us to capture the demons." Billie frowned. " That's kind of crazy. And it's not like the demon willingly offered information either."

Sardo was thoughtfully quiet.

" Does this have to do with Cole? What happened with Cole?" Billie asked. " What am I supposed to watch for?"

" He has been unusually withdrawn." Sardo replied. " And he looks at me with trepidation, as if fearing I might discover something."

" You have a way of doing that."

" Not with Cole Turner."

" …"

" Shh!" One of the elves hushed the others. " There is movement in the trees."

" Could be animals but we should be cautious." Billie frowned. " Your vision is better than mine, Sardo."

" It is a large form, but the moonlight is not strong enough for me to make a more detailed guess."

They drew their weapons slowly and silently. There was no further movement.

The oracles left the wall. " We saw nothing coherent." She informed the witch in frustration. " Only a wall of gems. There does not appear to be a second wall to El Dorado, but we cannot be certain."

" Damn." Billie frowned. " Sardo might be right. Maybe Wyatt's trying to lead us on a wild goose chase." Still, she frowned at the walls and wondered if Wyatt managed to modify the defenses.

" No." Said another witch when Billie suggested this. " There's no way. El Dorado's magic is too old and too strong."

" But this makes no sense!" Billie frowned. " Why would Wyatt's demons be looking for a second door? Where did they even get that idea? It's so strange. Or, if they're just leading us in circles…why do _that?_"

oO

" He is targeting Cole." Chris instantly said.

Billie was flabbergasted. " How did you jump from 'wild goose chase' to ' targeting Cole'?"

" I agree with Sardo." Chris nodded appreciatively at the elf, who inclined his head in return. " Sardo's point is valid. These demons would never have surrendered. With how the other forts went, this one was too easy. I didn't realize it at first, but it _was_ too easy."

" So you're saying that Wyatt _wanted _us to capture his demons and torture information out of them."

" Well, think about what you were asking him." Chris gestured. " ' What were you doing in Colombia'."

" That's true. The demon wasn't actually captured at the fort." Billie frowned. " We caught the demon on our way to the fort. It was a small band too. And then the fort surrendered as well…"

Chris looked a bit put out. " I should have gone." He muttered. " It sucks to realize all this now. But if Wyatt wanted his demons to get captured and for us to learn about their supposed missions, we still have to understand why."

This was completely beyond Billie's understanding. " I don't know. I don't even see how this is related at all to Cole."

" The demon taunted Cole after you left." Chris told her.

" Oh…but even so that's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?"

Chris's intelligence seemed to be in recognizing connections, even if they were stretches. " Cole is the additional unexpected factor in all of this." He turned to Sardo. " Wyatt knows of his existence. He got me away from him, twice. No doubt, he's trying to get Cole out of the picture, or otherwise inhibit him."

" By making us think there's a second gate?" Billie scowled in bafflement.

" By making us think Wyatt is capable of entering El Dorado if we don't hurry." Chris frowned. " He's probably trying to get me to send Cole to Wyatt's headquarters in order to _investigate_ this second gate. He can then trap Cole…"

" He can't trap Cole. I saw people flinging arrows and energy balls at Cole and they just bounce off."

" My empathy works on Cole." Chris pointed out.

Silence fell at this.

" So we ignore the possibility of a second gate?" Asked Billie.

" The oracles did not see one."

" The oracles did not really see anything. Line of gems against a wall? What on earth is that?"

" We cannot risk ignoring the idea that Wyatt might actually have sent his demons to Colombia in order to search for a potential second gate." Sardo frowned.

" Then we search for what is necessary…in magic school." Chris frowned as well. " Sending Cole back to Wyatt's headquarters might lead him into a trap. We can reinforce El Dorado with scouts to scout the area and see if there are any more demons being sent that way, and then we can send people to capture them."

" You're assuming we _can _capture these demons before they open the second gate."

" It is far more likely that this second gate doesn't exist at all." Chris replied. " Besides, I already have the freaking password. I just have to get people to say it right, or something. We're already one step ahead of Wyatt on that one. He's probably trying to distract us." He then gave his orders. " Tell Marcos in Colombia to place scouts around El Dorado and look for any potential demon activity. We don't do anything else in the meantime."

oO

Chris was only partially right. Wyatt was targeting Cole, but not for the reasons the teen had assumed. Chris did not know that Wyatt had once successfully summoned Cole, and that had the Dark Lord wished to trap Cole, he could merely trap Cole after summoning him.

Wyatt possessed no knowledge on how to trap Cole. He did, however, want Cole to be a messenger. He knew that sending demons to look for a "second door" to El Dorado would cause the Resistance to become uneasy. Who better to spy on Wyatt's intelligence than the undetectable Cole Turner? And Turner would definitely agree to this, loving the boy as he did. And while Cole Turner is spying, Wyatt can let slip another "vital" piece of information: that the person to say the password was Chris.

And when Turner tells Chris of this, Chris would then head to El Dorado and open the gates. As soon as he arrives at the gates, Wyatt's forces would arrive. Chris would panic as soon as he sees Wyatt. Wyatt could then kill him. Cole, after seeing Chris die, would no doubt no longer help the Resistance, who would simultaneously be without an ally or their precious leader.

The problem was that Chris had not fallen for this trick. Wyatt had planned out their strategy with the warlocks as if the second door actually existed. He told the warlocks that while they do not know what the password was, they knew that the password had to be said by Chris. The warlocks were in charge of finding a second door, and of dispatching demons to look for the gate. He then warned the warlocks not to let the one Cole Turner learn of this secret, or Chris, of course. The demons dispatched to El Dorado did not know they were on a suicide mission and had honestly believed they were looking for an alternative gate. They were told especially that it was dangerous for Cole Turner to learn of this secret. All was done as if Wyatt had truly found an alternative way into El Dorado.

But Chris never appeared at El Dorado. Wyatt knew Chris had captured the demons. And with the way the demons were, he knew Chris, by now, had weaseled information out of the demons. In fact, he knew Chris tried to confirm this new knowledge, sending oracles to El Dorado to see if their visions could lend any clues. But Chris himself, never appeared in El Dorado, and to kill the oracles could either confirm the new knowledge, or alert Chris that there was a trap. His brother was just like that. Realizing the truth from a few disconnected hints.

Perhaps his brother already knew this was a trap.

At the moment, however, he was going to let things play out, until it is clear that Chris was not going to fall for this.

oO

" It's not just the demons in Colombia. Scouts are reporting that there was talk in the other forts about a second door. Even the ones on the inside." Billie said to Chris days later, who merely shook his head.

" Spreading rumors on the inside in order to appease the outside is something even Wyatt is smart enough to do." Said the younger Halliwell. " I'm pretty certain there's no second gate."

" You're really confident, for some reason."

" It doesn't make sense."

" What doesn't make sense?"

" That Wyatt would conveniently find out there's a second gate just when we have Cole on our side and had sent six thousand Resistance members to El Dorado in the attempt to open the main gate." Chris shrugged. " Even if he were getting desperate, don't you think that's a little strange?"

" There's no way to tell, Chris."

" Trust me." Said the teen. " There's no second gate. In fact, the longer this is going on the more I'm convinced. Notice how there are no break-ins to get our resources. No break-ins at magic school," Chris frowned a little, " Despite the fact that the demons obviously don't know where this supposed "second door" is. They're not bothering to narrow down its location even when we're constantly 'sabotaging' their missions. He's leading _them _on a wild goose chase."

Chris's strange judgment had worked to save their lives before, but even so, Billie worried her lip. " You're a hundred percent sure."

" Well, ninety-five." Chris shrugged. " In war, that's pretty good."

Billie gave in. " I don't see how you're even ninety-five percent sure." She muttered, walking away.

Chris glanced at her before looking at the reports. There were attacks on two of the Resistance bases, neither of them the three new ones. It seemed Wyatt had yet to learn that his forts had been taken over. _Go figure._ He thought. Wyatt had always been more of an attacker than a defender. There were casualties, and Chris swallowed thickly as he read the names and tried to think of the family members and friends who were linked to them. He would have to go to them later.

He saw Cole head down the hall and called out to him.

" I need to show you the password." Chris told Cole, using his telekinesis to close the door as Cole entered. " It's supposed to mean 'good man', I think." He took out the slip of paper and handed it to Cole.

" There's no special way to pronounce it." Cole told Chris after he said it the same way Chris himself said it. " Good man, huh? Not very original."

" Fits the construction." Chris shrugged. Cole turned around to walk away.

" Hey Cole," Chris frowned. Cole stopped and turned back to him. An awkward silence fell.

" Yes?" Cole broke the pause.

Chris frowned. " What's going on?" He asked. He was no longer asking as Chris Halliwell; he was asking as the Leader of the Resistance. " You've been acting strangely ever since Leo. You've been feeling strange too."

His empathy sensed a lurch in Cole's emotions. Cole looked away.

Chris frowned even more. He was fond of Cole—he truly was, but lately, he had been getting worried that something was up. _Is he possessed? There is no way to possess someone who does not exist. What else could be wrong with him though?_

" It's nothing." Cole shook his head and flashed him a rather fake smile.

Chris knew there was no way to push Cole into telling him, without pushing the man away. " Alright then." He nodded.

Cole hesitated, before opening the door and walking out.


	13. Tolling Bells

Dawn

Tolling Bells

Chris had ordered the Resistance to lay low. Before, when Billie had ordered this in Chris's absence, many of the refugees had been anxious and restless. With their leader back, even if Chris was unable to go on missions personally, people had enough faith in him that they were rather relaxed about the idea this time around.

Scouts continued capturing demons in Colombia, and Billie continued interrogating them with Chris and Cole present. They got the same story out of most of them, with a few exceptions where it seemed the demon was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite the continued affirmation of there being a second gate, Chris seemed to disregard the idea completely. There were several attacks made on the Resistance bases with some injured; Wyatt had finally realized that three of his bases were lost. Thankfully, Billie's magic ensured that the defenses were secure. The Resistance did not send out any offensive missions, and something like a peace settled over the refugees.

The newfound calm meant that beings like Eroof could pursue their life's interest with new zeal. Unfortunately for Cole and Billie, the idea of them being together seemed very attractive for Chris as well.

" You're bossy," Eroof said to Billie, " And you're indestructible." He said to Cole. " Which means if you ever _not _listen to her, she can throw stuff at you and you wouldn't get hurt. On the other hand you're patient and obliging, within reason of course, so if she does tell you to do something sensible you'll probably do it."

" Chris, I should have spanked you more often when you were a child." Billie scowled angrily at the leader of the Resistance, who was chuckling in mirth. " In anticipation for the sheer _terror_ over here that you're inflicting on me." She gestured at Eroof.

" Being a spinster never did suit you," Chris laughed, " And with the Resistance mostly inactive, you can afford to, as Eroof says, ' Live a little'."

" You're just doing this to get Eroof off your back." Billie glared. She then turned awkwardly at Cole. " Not that you aren't a great guy."

" Not that you aren't a great woman." Cole returned easily.

" See, we have a mutual understanding." The blonde shot at the cupid. " We appreciate that we're both lovely people. We also appreciate that we don't love each other."

" You have to let it grow." Eroof grinned as she growled. " But I'll let it rest if you are so adamant. Love cannot be forced, after all!"

" That's the first smart thing you've said all day." Billie rolled her eyes.

" Aw, are you giving up already?" Chris laughed at Eroof.

" If you want to carry on my mission, be my guest." Eroof punched Chris lightly in the shoulder. " But while you can probably stand up to the great Billie Jenkins, I cannot. I'm only a humble cupid."

" Humble my ass." Billie grumbled.

" But I haven't forgotten about you." Eroof tugged Chris by the same shoulder he had just punched. " I told you I found you a girl and you're coming with me."

" What?!" But before Chris could protest any further, the cupid had teleported him away.

Cole stared at where they stood moments before, eyebrows raised.

" Thank God." Billie rolled her eyes. " Chris is the one he should _really _focus on, if he focuses on anyone."

Cole smirked a little. " You are really not interested in love, Billie?"

" Are _you_?"

Cole thought about Phoebe again and his smirk faded a little.

" You did love him then." Cole observed.

" Not _him._" Billie shook her head. " We weren't together long enough." She did not appear surprised by Cole's remark, and seemed to assume Cole knew who _he _was, even though Chris had never actually identified him. " Times are hard. Chris's skills as leader allow us to lose very few people, but we are in times of war. If you can get your heart to close from love, you do it. Because otherwise it's just stupid."

" You don't seem to encourage that sort of mindset in Chris." Cole cocked an eyebrow.

" I know Chris." Billie replied. " He's not going to fall in love with anyone. Not until he sees that Wyatt is not going to squash everyone in the Resistance. Eroof knows too. It's just, that cupid's trying to light things up. Talk about finding the most annoying way." She wrinkled her nose. " But I gotta say, it _is _what he does best, I guess." She glanced at him. " For some, they need it to go on."

The sound of children laughing interrupted them then, and Cole listened with a strange feeling in his chest. He wondered what Chris was like when he was a child. No doubt, constantly overshadowed by his brother. _" I wanted to marry my Mommy, but because Wyatt wanted to marry her, I stepped aside…"_ But he must have been happier as a child. There was Piper, of course, and the cousins; Wyatt was probably a different kind of holy terror than he is now, and the world was brighter, the sun stronger, and there had been hope…

_I can't face him…_

" Cole?" Billie frowned. " Is there something wrong? You've been acting strange lately."

_Everyone is noticing, _Cole thought with chagrin. It was difficult to be with Chris, knowing that he would be responsible for the young one's continued strife. So far he had been approached by Sardo and Chris, and now Billie. Thankfully, Chris was very willing to attribute it to other reasons, reasons the boy was gracious enough not to dig into. Sardo, however, was not as forgiving. The elf had been staring hard at Cole every time they saw each other. He did not think the elf thought he meant to harm the Resistance, or hurt Chris, but the elf did disapprove.

_Maybe elves are psychic. Are elves psychic?_

" Cole?"

" I'm fine." Cole said tiredly. He started to elaborate, but changed his mind. He had lifted his hand to rub the bridge of his nose, and as he dropped it his fingers brushed against his pant pocket, where Chris's green crystal was.

Billie was staring at him, and feeling uncomfortable, Cole turned away from her and shimmered away.

oO

Back in the realm between realities, Cole felt a little calmer. Here, he was alone, and no one can find him, so he could _think_ for a while. He watched as Chris was introduced to a girl, how the two of them were awkward around each other. It was all in good fun, Cole realized. Eroof was not serious either, and seemed to take great personal amusement at their reactions.

He could always tell Chris himself. Pretend that it was not Leo who discovered Wyatt's turning. There was still time. He could still spare Chris this suffering. Not to mention, it was the lies, back then, that had separated him from Phoebe. The selfish plots. The obsession with keeping her to himself when really, he had no right. Here it was the same. Chris was not his son, not even his nephew. He had no right to decide Chris's life.

And this _hiding_…it was pushing Chris away, perhaps more than if he had sent Chris to the past himself.

_I can't._ Cole tried to strengthen his resolve but failed. _I can't let Chris change things._

Across San Francisco, gray clouds rolled across the sky and rain began to fall. The probes glittered as the raindrops dotted them. They zoomed through the streets, pausing scanning several demons walking by. The demons ignored the probes, which then went resumed its way again. Several blocks away, children, clad in rags, stooped through the rubble hoping to find some food. Some curled up at the side of a demolished building as the rain poured down. The air was chilly and a fog clouded the air and covered the tiny bodies like a shroud.

Cole watched several dark figures make their way to the children. He knew that they were Resistance scouts, sent to help bring those in need back to the Resistance forts. He would step in to help, but the idea did not even occur to him. He had settled back into simply watching, for the moment.

_" Cole?" _He suddenly heard. It was Chris. _" Where did Cole go?"_

His attention caught, he instantly turned to the Resistance base where Chris was. Chris was talking to Sardo, and Cole found himself suddenly anxious. But the elf made no mention of Cole's strange behavior. They were discussing Resistance-related matters, the plan of action for the next few days. He listened as Chris informed Sardo to remain relatively quiet in his recruiting efforts. _" After our three-fort-run, Wyatt has no doubt figured out he's lost some important bases. He's going to expect us to try to conquer a fourth, so we're going to have to wait for a bit and that includes recruitment—throw him off our rhythm."_

_" How long do you intend to wait?"_

_" Once Wyatt's behavior changes. He's been attacking our forts half-heartedly and trying to trick us into sending Cole over to his base."_

At this, Cole started, and listened with more attention.

_" We need to wait until Wyatt stops attacking our forts, since it's a waste of resources for him anyway, before we can resume attacking more of _his _forts,_" Chris paused, _" Which delays things, but after our three fort run, we can afford to wait a bit. Let everyone take a break."_

_" You want us to slow recruitment down as well?"_

_" Yeah." _Said Chris. _" When I say lay low, I mean all of the Resistance lays low. He's not going to pay attention to us recruiting when he thinks we're attacking his forts. I want most of our energy to go to defense."_

_" What about El Dorado?"_

_" That we'll have to wait until he isn't interested in that place anymore." _Chris rubbed his face. _" Otherwise we risk getting ambushed. Even if we knew who was supposed to say the password I'd make them wait until Wyatt stops trying to get in that place." _He sighed. _" No reason to lose El Dorado just when we got it."_

_" Alright."_

Cole, feeling a bit disturbed, turned his attention to Wyatt's headquarters. Safe in the realm between realms, he could watch Wyatt without the Dark Lord ever knowing he was there, because technically, he was not. The Dark Lord was pacing around his quarters.

_" It has been days." _Said the witchlighter. _" No doubt my brother knows of the plan."_

_" What should we do, milord?" _Asked a warlock.

_" Turn our attention away from El Dorado, for the moment." _Said Wyatt. _" So long as Chris does not say the password, the Resistance is still in the same situation as it was. He has taken three of my forts; let us concentrate, then, on taking three in return."_

_" Yes, my lord."_

Cole listened for a moment more, but the warlock retreated from Wyatt's chambers. Wasting no time, he shimmered back to the Resistance.

oO

" I feel stupid." Chris admitted.

" Why?" Charlie asked?"

" Because I always forget what Cole is capable of doing." The boy looked chagrined. " But then he never really explained things to me either. Still, this was something I _knew _already."

" That he can see things from outside this realm?" Yi guessed.

Cole thought ruefully that he also kept forgetting Chris's empathy. " It is fine." He said to the teen. " You had a lot on your mind."

" I had a lot of powers to keep track of." Chris agreed. " Still, _Wyatt _didn't know this at all. His plan still stands. What doesn't make sense is why he'd say what he said."

" It makes perfect sense." Cole replied. " You're half whitelighter and a being of pure good."

If anything, this seemed to make Chris feel even worse. " I'm no better than the rest of the Resistance."

Cole wondered why Chris was so unhappy. He thought he should try reassuring the boy by revealing his gem, its clarity and brightness—but before he could even dismiss that idea, Billie answered Cole's question.

" You don't want to leave the base again." She guessed.

" It's not wise to open El Dorado at this time anyway." Chris sighed. " Wyatt's forces are probably waiting in ambush over there."

Cole cocked an eyebrow. This was possible, but from what Cole had heard, it did not seem likely. " He seemed very unwilling to allow you to open El Dorado. If he were planting an ambush there, this would be a contradiction."

Wyatt had you fooled." said Chris, shaking his head. " He didn't want to capture you. He wanted to let you hear stuff."

Cole was lost. He did not know where this was coming from.

Billie chuckled at his expression. " You get used to it." She told him. " Chris is usually right."

" Chris is always right." Charlie slapped Chris on the shoulder. " So what, we just wait around?"

" I don't know. Let me think." Chris chewed on his lip. " First of all, we have to ensure that the info is legit."

" Wyatt didn't know I was there."

" Wyatt knows he wouldn't know you were there." Chris replied. " You slipped through their ranks undetected once before. He has no way of knowing if you would do so again." He then went on to explain, " Wyatt isn't stupid. He'll know that in order to fool you, the lie has to seem authentic. There's no real way for him to learn any more about El Dorado than we did. But he has to pretend he knows, to fool you. Then, maybe he could plant some demons in ambush so that when I try to open El Dorado…"

" You're not heading to El Dorado either way." Billie broke in. " We're supposed to lay low for now, anyway."

" Yeah." Chris looked troubled.

Cole thought about the chamber of gems. " There's a way to know for sure," He started before he could decide otherwise, " Who is the supposed being of pure good."

The members looked at him.

Cole explained the chamber of gems.

" I know that place…" John frowned. " It's how the Elders select whitelighters. Whichever gem is opaque is destined for evil, and whichever gem is the clearest is destined for good. Most gems are slightly cloudy though."

" We'd want a clear gem then." Billie frowned. " Is there only one? Are whitelighters cloudy too?"

" Yeah." John replied. " Although, only slightly, and once we become whitelighters we end up being clear. There's a cleansing process before we become official whitelighters."

Chris was looking at Cole, his face turning more and more pale by the second. Cole knew what was going through the boy's mind. Wyatt may be right. He might have, inadvertently, provided the answer to the riddle of El Dorado. Because whitelighters were cloudy before they become whitelighters, but Chris was _born _a whitelighter.

Being good sucks, Cole decided.

Billie had also realized the same thing as Chris and Cole. " We should probably take a look at the chamber anyway." She said to John. " Can you go with Cole up there?"

" It's infested with demons now."

" Cole can protect you." Chris's voice sounded slightly strained. " First sign of anything wrong, you shimmer him back here."

" I can orb."

" They have anti-orbing spells up there." Cole replied without thinking. " Leo had to shimmer with me."

A heavy pause followed this.

" You went there with Leo?" Chris asked softly.

_Shit._ Cole thought, panic flooding his being. He saw Chris's eyes narrow and knew the boy sensed his fear. Schooling his features on instinct, he replied, " Yes, I did."

" What for?" Billie asked, also looking a bit suspicious.

Cole was silent. His mind raced to find words, but he did not know what to say.

Chris's gaze was intense. " It doesn't matter now." the boy replied, though his eyes warned Cole that the Leader of the Resistance required explanations soon enough. " John, you will go with Cole up to the chamber to see if you can find any stones that are clear. Is there any way to identify the stones with their respective individual?"

" Yes." Said John, while Cole sat down, feeling ill. Billie and Charlie glanced at him, but Chris pointedly ignored him. " There's a mirror. You dip the stone in the mirror and it shows you who the person is."

" Is the chamber guarded?" Chris then aske Cole, who shook his head. " Do demons enter the chamber, at all?"

" It has protection spells." John said for Cole. " They're even more powerful than Elder magic. Not even Wyatt can go through."

" Lots of things Wyatt can't touch." Chris said almost dismissively. " Then as long as Cole shimmers you there, you should be safe. Even so, take Sardo with you. But first, Cole, I need to talk to you in private."

Cole felt his stomach drop, but he nodded anyway. Chris headed out of the room without looking back, and Cole wondered how long it would be before the boy stops trusting him completely, just like the rest of his family.

oO

" I've been more than tolerant with you lately." Chris said, his eyes flashing a little in irritation. He sat down on his cot and gestured sharply at the chair across him for Cole to sit down as well. " This is getting ridiculous. If it's just you and me, that's fine. If it's just you, it's fine. But I'm leading a whole bunch of refugees. Children. Infants. Mothers. They all require that I keep a clear head and know what's going on in these bases and in Wyatt's bases. I get the sense that whatever you're hiding isn't just _personal_, it affects everyone here. So I need the truth, Cole."

_I need the truth. Tell us the truth._ Words spoken by a long-dead voice, a faint ghost of a memory.

_Lying never works with the Halliwells._ Cole thought. If Chris turns away from him, he would only have himself to blame. But he was going to lose Chris whether or not he told the truth now.

" You're right." He said, feeling his spirits sink as he said this. " It affects everyone."

Chris's ire seemed to cool a little. He really could be a bit intimidating when he was angry, Cole reflected. This little squirt of a nineteen-year-old was, after all, protecting and fighting for several thousand people. He had his weak moments, but that did not mean he was not strong overall. " Tell me what happened."

Cole found himself explaining the entire encounter with Leo. He saw Chris's expression range from outrage, to shock, to outrage again.

" You _blocked _him?" Chris hissed. " You _blocked _my father from the Resistance?"

Cole was silent.

" Billie and Charlie they did it because they cared about me. You were doing it to hurt me."

Cole looked away.

Chris got up from his bed. " I can't believe you did that! I just—Why the _hell_ would you do something like…"

Cole watched nervously as Chris trailed off. _So you were evil all along,_ he could hear the words already. _My mom and my aunts were right about you…shouldn't have trusted you…been wrong all this time—_

" Cole," Chris looked at him with a surprisingly pained expression, " You are one selfish and _stupid_ son-of-a-bitch. Let's go get coffee."

_Huh?_

" Come on!" Chris was already at the door, gesturing impatiently. " Ugh, move it!"

What was going on? Cole did not know what to expect. He felt his anxiety peak as they walked down the halls. Chris's back was turned, but he knew that the boy wore a murderous expression on his face, for the refugees they passed by looked at him in alarm.

Cole found himself wishing that Chris had exploded at him, instead. But then, since when had Chris ever done anything _expected_?

Chris got them both coffee, handing one mug to Cole with a jerk of his arm that nearly caused the liquid to spill. Cole took it gingerly and watched as Chris swallowed his coffee in large gulps. Though Chris did not wince, Cole thought he might have burned himself, but the boy did not seem to be in the shape to notice or care. Chris then called over an elf and whispered into her ear. She looked very put out by whatever Chris was saying, but Chris was adamant and she did not try to object. She departed the cafeteria as soon as Chris leaned back.

The boy then looked at him, his green eyes blazing a little, but an awkward silence fell. For some reason, Chris did not seem to know how to begin.

" It's hard to stay mad at you when you're like that." Chris finally sighed. " God forbid. Empathy sucks. Why couldn't this be Wyatt's power?"

Cole was so puzzled by this that he forgot to be nervous for a second. " What do you mean?"

" He has everything else."

" You seemed to have inherited your mother's combustion."

" Yeah, his is more powerful than mine." Chris shrugged. " Only thing Wyatt doesn't have is empathy. And premonitions."

Cole hesitated. " Do you have premonitions?" He asked cautiously.

Chris shook his head. He had not actually looked at Cole when they started speaking again. " Had it once. Wyatt knocked it out."

" …" Cole was at a loss.

" It makes no difference, ultimately, whether or not you told me." Chris sighed again. " I'm more mad about Leo. I can't believe you blocked him. You _knew _I was worried about him."

Cole was confused again and decided to remain silent.

" It's bad enough with all the Resistance members." The boy continued. " And here I thought he refused to come. Which didn't make sense, even at the time, but I figured, it might have been something to do with you. Maybe he hated you that much. Certainly had it in him."

" …"

Chris finished his coffee then, and tossed the mug in the container filled with other dirty dishes and cups. " Thought he didn't want to be near you, what with past history. And just because I'm an empath doesn't mean I'm psychic. Even if I were, I wouldn't have violated your thoughts that way, so just worked under the assumption that you two had a row. Which you did, I'm guessing."

He sat down heavily, but did not wave at Cole to sit as well. " I trusted you way too much and you took advantage of that."

Cole felt more curious than anything. It seemed unlikely, now, that Chris hated him. He seemed a bit disappointed, but everything about what was happening seemed to indicate the boy was willing to work things out with him. Which was something Cole was completely unused to. He could not fathom why Chris would behave this way, especially when it was obvious Cole had betrayed him.

" Can we work something out?" Chris asked then, his green eyes keen now. " Because I can't have you keeping secrets like this from me. Not like this. This _is _the only thing you've been keeping from me, right?"

Cole did not know how to say " Yes" without implicating himself, but Chris seemed to sense his answer.

" I can't travel back to the past. I can't send _anyone _back into the past. It's too dangerous. There are too many variables. We'd have to do extensive research to ensure that Wyatt doesn't just end up with El Dorado straight off the bat, or something of that nature that makes things worse than they are. As long as we still have some hope here, going back to the past is too risky. So no, telling me about it wouldn't change much except make me realize that Leo was right all along." Chris folded his arms. " But if we weren't doing as well as we are, this information would be absolutely vital. I can't believe you kept this from me." Chris shook his head.

" I'm sorry." Cole finally had the wit to say.

" I know." Chris said softly. " Cole, has it ever occurred to you that I actually like having you around? If I go back to the past I'd lose you too."

" You'd have the rest of your family." Cole looked away, feeling numb. His coffee steamed in the mug in his hand. " You wouldn't need me."

" I still wouldn't have a Dad." Chris replied bitterly.

Cole glanced at Chris. " You could warn him."

" Ha, yeah right. ' Hi Dad! I'm the son that you spent all of your life ignoring. This time around, don't ignore me so much, 'kay?'. Give me a break. He'll be the same old. Wyatt's gonna be good but probably still obnoxious. Only thing that's different is that Mom will be here, Aunt Phoebe and Paige, cousins, and I'll be lil' shrimp Chris, always under his big brother's shadow because he's not twice-blessed and not remarkable either. Maybe Billie will marry in that lifetime and she'll be busy with her family."

" You wouldn't be afraid of going out." Cole whispered. " You wouldn't have to have nightmares all the time."

Chris was silent.

" You can't tell me you aren't tempted." Cole looked at Chris. " Go back and fix everything. I'm a small price to pay for you."

" You're right, I am tempted." Chris was very pale. " This is what I mean by working things out. I know you think you'll lose what we have here, and you'll be stuck back in that world between worlds that you came from. Things aren't so black and white. You're clear proof of that. We don't have to make these options so extreme. Who's to say that when I go back I can't fix things between you and Aunt Phoebe? Well, okay, I'm not entirely certain how I would do that, and it would also mean changing things around so my cousins aren't my cousins and Uncle Coop wouldn't be there anymore. But isn't this what family is all about? Talk things out? Discuss? Clarify situations? If things were so easily resolved, what would you need family for?"

Somehow, Chris's words managed to make Cole feel worse, even though he no longer felt like his world was about to end. _I underestimated Chris._ Cole thought. _Why can't _he _be the twice-blessed one?_

" As things stand, it doesn't really matter. I'm just sending Billie to get Leo here. Althea is getting her," Chris glanced at the exit to the cafeteria, " I have a feeling I'll regret getting him here because no doubt he's going to throw a tantrum over how I'm supposed to 'save Wyatt' instead of 'fighting him'." The teen snorted. " But next time you think telling me something is difficult, you tell me how you feel about things, okay? Because you do something so selfish again and endanger the Resistance, I'll kick your ass."

" Did I hear correctly?!" Billie stormed in just as Chris finished. " You want to bring Leo here _again?!_"

" I am giving you express orders to use whatever means necessary to bring him to the Resistance." Chris then paused. " Alive." He added. " And whole. Well, unharmed, also. So don't bring him dead or in pieces. You're free to also transform him to any object of your choosing so long as it's reversable."

" Are you out of your _mind?!_"

" He's my father!"

" No he isn't! How long would it take to get this through your thick skull? He's got no right over you!"

" Nope, but he's still a whitelighter, and he's still a member of good, which makes me responsible for him. Or are you suggesting I turn away anyone I don't like?"

Billie had no answer to this. With a huff, she exclaimed, " Well, _I _don't want to get him."

" You will get him." Chris replied calmly. " That's an order."

Cole watched the scene with some surprise.

Billie seemed to deflate as she huffed. She whirled around and stormed out. Behind her, several elves watched anxiously.

Chris looked at Cole. " Cole, can you take Sardo and John to the chamber?"


	14. Center of Attention

Shadows Like Ghosts

Center of Attention

Leo appeared to the Resistance distinctly uncomfortable. Chris, for his part, seemed to do his best to avoid the whitelighter. It later became apparent why.

" Let me make this clear, _Leo,_" Billie spat, " Chris knows about your precious time traveling nonsense. We're _not _doing that. Misbehave, and I will grab a darklighter arrow and stab you myself, Chris or no Chris."

Ironically, despite Cole's initial reservations, the animosity on the part of all the Resistance against Leo was so strong that Cole wound up being the only person Chris could trust to relocate Leo.

" I know I'm no expert on how to deal with him," Chris said to Cole, " But usually what I try to do is ignore everything he's saying. And don't talk to him. Not even orders. Just get him to the room and that's that."

But the advice was hard to follow, even though Cole tried his best. The man's very presence was antagonizing. Leo seemed to opt for keeping silent as well, but the fact that he always seemed to want to speak did not help.

" Bastard." Billie spat. " I wish I can wring his throat."

To ease everyone, including himself, Cole remarked, " He hasn't done anything yet."

" He's done enough before." Billie replied. " More than enough."

The Resistance members were looking through the gems Sardo and John had brought back from the Elders. Cole did not have the chance to slip Chris's stone into the pile, but he figured he should hold on to it for now.

" There's no need to cultivate rage." Chris said to Billie gently, though Cole could tell the boy was touched by everyone's support. " We don't want him running away from the Resistance, or something."

Billie just glared at him.

Cole, for his own part, did very little the last few days, other than watch Chris as the boy worked. He was truly beginning to think of the boy as his son now, or at least his nephew, and sometimes he reflected back on when he was married to Phoebe. She had always been gorgeous, but when she was pregnant, she seemed even more so. Maybe if he did not become the Source, he could have had a son just like Chris. Or maybe Chris would actually _be _that son. Maybe Chris was the son he and Phoebe were meant to have had. He had Phoebe's premonitions and empathy, after all, as well as her levitation.

But even if he still remained Piper's son, if he and Phoebe were together, he would have been there for Chris all the way. He would have challenged Leo's neglect to the man's face, instead of hiding in that world between worlds the way he did. Chris deserved a father figure in his life, and even with Coop and Henry in the family, the boy never got that because Leo had been in the way.

" Cole, are you alright?" Chris laughed at the spirit. " Don't get all gooey on me here."

" What?" _Oh. Stupid empathy._

" We still have a lot of work to do." Chris declared, before leaving Cole with Billie.

" Slavedriver." Billie muttered. " I wish Wyatt would just die and leave us in peace." She ran her fingers through her hair. " Wow." She paused. " Haven't allowed myself to entertain that idea since this started."

" What idea?"

" Wyatt dying." Billie looked at Cole dully. " We're not even sure if he is capable of dying. Being half whitelighter and all. Ugh, this blows."

" You could always steal a little darklighter poison."

" Ha! Sounds easier than it is. You honestly think Chris didn't try that before?"

Cole blinked. " Yes and no. I didn't realize he would resort to such methods."

" Had to." Billie shook her head. " The odds were _really _against us then. Wyatt was killing the children, and we were desperate."

Cole did not get a chance to hear much more, because one of the witches called to Billie, who left Cole alone. The spirit eventually found Chris again, hard at work making potions. He dodged one of the bottles as Chris's telekinesis brought one ingredient too close for comfort.

" Hi Cole." Chris called. " I wouldn't have hit you, you know."

" Instinct." Cole replied. " Stocking up supplies again?"

" Yeah." Chris started a fire. " Can you check on Leo for me?"

Cole did not feel like checking on Leo personally. He stretched out his other-worldly senses and knew the whitelighter was moping in the room.

" He's sad and lonely." Cole said with some derision.

Chris's lips twitched. Cole was not sure if he was frowning or smiling. " He loves making my life miserable." The boy sighed. The ingredients continued to fly about the room, and Cole wondered just how much the boy was concentrating right now. " Ooh! Almost forgot. How did it go," And Chris murmured an incantation over one of the pots. It puffed a cloud of purple before going back to a simmer again. Chris squashed out the flame underneath, then started choking.

" Oh god, that's strong." He coughed.

Cole smelled it too, but he was not affected, and watched, with some amusement, as Chris tried to calm down.

" Ugh!" Chris exclaimed when his fit was over. " That was nasty!" He orbed a lid onto the pot. " Gah!"

" What is that potion?" Cole asked.

" Power enhancement." Said Chris. " Smells worse than it tastes. Which is a good thing…I think."

He suddenly froze, and when Cole concentrated, he realized that Leo had just orbed out of his room.

" Sucks." Said Chris. " But he's just gone to the cafeteria."

Cole scowled a little. Too bad they could not really treat Leo as a prisoner, as unwelcome as most of the Resistance was. The two of them stood in silence as they paid attention to what Leo was doing.

" Fudge, I better get down there before someone tries to kill him." Chris orbed.

oO

" What did you expect we have? Starbucks quality coffee?" The woman said irritably to Leo, as Chris orbed in.

" Nancy," Chris called, " Get the fine ground for the two of us, would you?"

Nancy scowled unhappily before turning around and obliging.

Leo folded his arms unhappily as the two of them waited in awkward silence while Nancy prepared the coffee. He kept sneaking glances at Chris, who ignored him for the first couple of minutes. Finally, Chris glared at Leo.

" What?"

Leo met his gaze and held it, tightening his jaw. " Just wanted to make sure you were okay." He said quietly.

Chris knew this to be true, but he was still annoyed. " I've been doing very well." He replied coldly, before adding, " Cole has been taking very good care of me."

Leo was less stung by this comment than Chris had wished. " I know." He said quietly.

_He doesn't care._ Chris thought angrily. _He doesn't care enough to be jealous._

But that was not it. Leo was merely resigned. He had accepted this long ago.

They got their coffee.

" I recommend you avoid wandering around." Chris said to Leo. " That way you stay out of trouble." He then took leave of the whitelighter.

oO

In the days that followed, Chris seemed to be keeping a closer personal eye on Leo, to the extent that for the time being, he was around Leo more than he was around Cole.

Cole did not mind. He used this opportunity to get to know the other members of the Resistance a little more. Before, his association with them had been through Chris, but now it seemed safe to associate with them on his own. He felt safe and secure. There was room in this family for him, and it seemed like once Chris laid to rest any potential conflicts and hard feelings, everyone took Cole with a stride, just as they had when Cole first mingled among them.

Most of the socializing took place in the cafeteria, which was reasonable given the setting. Chris used mealtimes to socialize with the other witches. Cole sat with Sardo, watching him from a distance. Sardo was actually quite protective of Chris, Cole realized. The elf always seemed to pay attention to what the boy was doing. Elves were not known for their affectionate behavior, but that did not mean they did not love as strongly as any human.

" How'd elves get involved in the Resistance?" Asked a witch. She had been sitting next to Cole because there had been no more room in the cafeteria. Cole had occasionally seen her face in the halls, but never enough that he wanted to learn her name. He still did not, to be frank.

" Blame it on Sardo." Said an elf. Cole did not join the conversation, though he listened. He had watched this particular occurrence, but he was interested in hearing the elves' side of the story. " Sardo shot him."

" Shot who?"

" Chris Halliwell."

" Whoa." Said a couple of humans at another table. " Who shot Chris?"

Sardo leaned back, with a look of faint annoyance.

" Why'd you shoot him?"

" Wyatt's forces was attacking the forest." Said another elf. " We were at the front lines. Chris was trying to get Darklighter poison in order to kill Wyatt."

" They all headbutted each other." Said a witch who obviously heard this story before.

" We were able to obtain some darklighter arrows before Wyatt personally captured Chris." Said Sardo. " They were about to orb. Chris yelled at me to shoot him. So I did."

" Just like that?"

" Chris did influence you." Cole decided to add, then. " Using his powers of empathy."

" Ach. It didn't kill Wyatt?"

" It did not hit him. Wyatt was too fast." Sardo replied, looking at Cole. " Chris was wounded. Wyatt escaped with his troops, and we took care of the Resistance members. Later Chris informed us about the state of affairs and asked us to join him. We did."

The group stopped talking all of the sudden, everyone staring at Chris and Leo. Feeling anxious, Cole rose out of his chair and went to Chris's side.

" You don't even know how to open El Dorado." Leo was accusing Chris. " And even if you do, Wyatt can easily snatch it from you all the same. And then he would be even more powerful than before."

" Leo, this is not open for discussion."

" Because you're a coward."

" Ahem." Cole cleared his throat. " You two are making the folks anxious over there." He gestured at the cafeteria, where a noticeably large group of people were anxiously watching the scene. " No provocation." He ordered, though this was aimed mostly at Leo.

Chris spoke right over him though. " I don't care if you care about Wyatt! I don't care if you had been the best father in the world! _These _people don't care!" He gestured at everyone in the cafeteria. " Do you understand? I don't care how many times you and Mom solved problems by time-travel—you had protection, you had Elders to call upon, and God damn it you had _luck!_ Maybe if we live in a coccoon and Wyatt's evil only affects us—I'd go back in time in a heartbeat, but right now _they _don't deserve the consequences that come with it, okay?"

" So they deserve the life right now?" Leo snapped back. " The life under _your _rule? Are you sure you're not just unwilling to let go of this power that you have over these people?"

Chris turned white. He was struck speechless.

Cole glared at Leo. " You know that is not true. You've always had the annoying habit of believing in the wrong things and then saying them out loud."

" Such as the fact that you were Evil's incarnation." Leo glared back at Cole. " What?" He looked around the room. " You didn't tell them? You never told them, did you, what you did in life. They just assume because Chris accepts you—does Chris even know what you did in the past? I bet you didn't tell him either."

Cole felt a flash of panic, but he was able to press it down. He knew Chris sensed that panic anyway, though.

Sardo's voice cut in like a wave of cool water on hot flames. " Neither of you are in any position to judge Chris. You both lack his nobility and will. Chris's priority is not Wyatt and has not been Wyatt for a long time. Nor is his priority family. He is our leader. He has kept us safe and given us a life in the midst of hell. You will do well to cooperate this time."

" No one goes into the past." Said Chris. " We do not know enough to venture into the past—we might nuke the world before we know it. And unless things get so dire that no one can hope to survive, we're not going to allocate any resources to such an insane idea. And _is _there anything you're not telling me?" He turned his flashing eyes to Cole.

Cole blinked. " N-no." He was not even sure if he was telling the truth.

Chris scowled and stalked away, still angry.

" Guys, there's nothing to see here. Just the usual drama between Chris and his old man." Eroof was telling everyone. Cole noticed the loud commotion as Chris went out of the cafeteria.

" Get over here." Cole ordered Leo when he saw the glares directed at the whitelighter. " I have half the mind to hang you up for your idiocy, but that would break Chris's heart, ironically. You're going to get yourself lynched with all this Wyatt nonsense."

Leo was about to reply, but Billie suddenly rushed in. " Chris!" She yelled.

" Chris is not here." Said a witch.

" Where'd he go?" Billie looked a little frantic. She then rushed out.

Cole blinked. _What's going on?_

oO

El Dorado remained a dead end. Chris was not taking the bait. Wyatt had to admit—his brother was a clever one. Still, against the power of the Dark Lord, Chris was only postponing his inevitable downfall.

After deliberating for a while, Wyatt called upon another group of demons and darklighters for a separate project. He would have to risk letting Cole Turner hear of the plan, but the Dark Lord was hardly going to sit around waiting for Chris to make the first move. They needed an upper hand.

From when they were children, Leo had always favored Wyatt. He never had time for Chris—he had been so engrossed in Wyatt's education. Wyatt became Leo's world, so much so that their mother had eventually gotten annoyed as well. For this reason, Chris and Leo had never gotten along, and that sickeningly loyal Resistance of his little brother's sided firmly with their leader. Leo had little protection over the years, and Wyatt left the man alone. The poor fool had been useless to Wyatt, always blathering about how he failed Wyatt and how Wyatt had been turned, somehow. Wyatt had meant to use Leo as a way to disrupt the ridiculously happy haven Chris had constructed for the weak idiots he was "saving". Over the years, he forgot about Leo, and never thought to destroy the man at all.

But now was the time.

He knew where Leo was. Magic school, of course. And upon sending the demons there, he found, to his surprise, that not only was magic school protected by Chris's wards, but all of the books were gone by now, along with its lone occupant. Somehow, Chris was able to get Leo out of there, along with much of the resources the Resistance could use.

His brother was turning into a serious thorn in a side. Of course, Chris had been a serious thorn for a long time.

Now all that really remained was to attack Chris directly. To do that, they need the locations of the bases. Wyatt did not have this. Even with his powers, he could not possibly hope to examine the entire world, both magical and unmagical. He did not have that time, or patience.

But he did know that near there was one base near El Dorado. The demons he had sent there had been constantly getting captured, as Wyatt had hoped, but no doubt there was a base somewhere nearby. He sent the demons to find it.

Sometimes war is all about luck.

oO

" Open the portals, _now!_"

" Chris, we can't! They would use this link to invade the other forts!"

" There are children in there!"

" There are children in other forts as well!"

" We need to fight back!" Chris snapped. " Everyone, stay calm. Jake! Mike! Yuta! Kal! Maintain the portals until I give the signal, then you are to shut the portals _immediately! _Damon! Vars! Ming! Billie! We're going through to maintain the shields! As long as the wards remain in place, Wyatt cannot pass through, and we have to get people into this fort as fast as possible! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"

Frantic commotion, yet strangely organized—everyone was in a hurry, but everyone knew exactly what they needed to do.

" Call all whitelighters and tell them to stand by!" Chris continued to shout orders. " Megan! Get the potions from the stockroom! Red and Green team, report to the portal entrance! Blue, White, Cash and Bright, come with us through the portal! We can't make this too easy for the demons to break through! _Move it!_"

With a flash of light, the portals opened and Billie was the first one to charge through, along with Ming, Damon, and Vars. Chris continued to yell out orders while Cole tried to stay out of the way of the moving bodies. Leo was next to him, but the man was thankfully silent. No one paid them any attention.

Four groups headed through the portal. Chris then dove in, and a line of refugees began streaming out of Colombia through the portal the other way.

" Fast as you can!" Cried one of the witches. " Whitelighters! Orb those who are not near the portal!"

Feeling that he should help, Cole shimmered to Colombia, where a crowd of frightened refugees were gathered around the portal. They turned to him in surprise—not all of them knew him, and his shimmer startled them.

" Everyone!" Cole called. " Those of you near me, come close. I will get you to the base."

He must have had a trustworthy expression on his face, for a group of people went near him. With a shimmer, he shimmered them to the fort. Then he shimmered back, alone.

" East Wing, cracking!" He heard Chris shout. " Billie!"

" On it!" And the ward sealed itself. The elves were shooting arrows from the windows of the fort. The earth shook as Wyatt's might tried to crush the defenses.

" On my count!" Chris shouted, " Rebound! On three! One! Two! Three!"

A flash of light shone, so bright that for a moment Cole was blinded. He blinked the dark spots out of his eyes to hear a loud groaning noise, like the earth was heaving. Several people were beside him, so he shimmered, but wasted no time shimmering back because he was worried about Chris.

" _Chris!_" A malignantly dark voice bellowed. " _I will have you, Christopher Halliwell!_"

Wyatt's form shone as the walls suddenly became transparent. He was flying in the air, and looked like a fell angel. At the sight of him, Chris froze and his eyes flashed with tears of fright.

" Chris!" Billie shouted, as Wyatt raised his hand and threw a white orb bolt right at Chris.

" Chris, _down!_" Sardo yelled, and Chris barely managed to dive down to the ground before the white orb crashed into the walls of the fort, shaking it on its very foundations. With his magical sense, Cole could see the defenses crack, though they did not break.

Screams filled the air. The foundations were crumbling under the shields. Cole felt a sudden magical puff, as if something had just popped. He did not know what that meant, but Chris did.

" _Billie!_"

Billie was crushed under the walls that gave when the fort was hit by Wyatt's attack. She was blinking rapidly, and Cole could not say whether she was blinking because she was alive or because some nerve had been hit by the sharp rocks. Her body twitched, as if some electrical impulse was constantly being sent through her form. Her blood pooled on the ground and mixed with the dirt and dust.

The world shook again as Wyatt's next attack hit. This time, without Billie's magic to strengthen the defenses, the magical barriers shattered like glass. Everyone was thrown back, even Cole. He wasted no time getting to his feet and rushing to Chris's side.

" Whitelighters out!" Sardo yelled. " Close the portal, _now!"_

Cole stayed long enough to see the portals shut with a final glow and go dark as the other side closed the connection. As the whitelighters orbed the last of what they could reach, Cole shimmered away. Behind them, Wyatt broke through the walls of the fort and unleashed his wrath onto the remaining refugees who were stranded, abandoned by the Resistance.


	15. X

Shadows Like Ghosts

"X"

_Sometimes, even the wisest beings are outwitted by chance._

" How many are here? Head count!" Chris cried out. " How many are here?!"

" Chris!" Charlie rushed to him, as John materialized in a flurry of orbs. " Are you alright?"

The refugees were mad with panic. Some of them had left others behind.

" What happened?" Yi cried.

Chris managed to lower his voice. " Billie was hit. Collapsed ceiling, or wall, or something. She's dead."

The boy looked like he could hardly believe it himself, but the Leader of the Resistance had other things to worry about.

" Notify all bases!" He ordered Yi, even as Charlie spewed out, " Shit shit shit shit _shit!_" He waded through the crowd, ignoring everyone's cries for answers. " Have all bases destroy the portals to Colombia! Now! Every portal!"

" That's crazy!" Charlie broke in, as Yi followed his orders. " You'll isolate them!"

" It's too late!" Chris cried. " And get these people out of here! We can't have Wyatt using the portals from Colombia to access the bases! We're sitting ducks! Destroy the portals, _now!_"

Cole noted everyone's panic and knew Chris's mental state was doing no one any good. " Destroy all portals." He told Charlie, smoothly taking over. " All barriers are currently at risk. Cut off all transportations except to the main garden. Start transporting all women and children there."

" The barriers there would have fallen too." Yi protested.

" The garden is not a hotspot. It is sufficiently hidden compared to the forts." Said Cole. " Station all troops at the forts but get all the little ones to the garden. We need to get them out of range of fire."

" Billie was the strongest witch that could tamper with reality. Without her, the demons could just warp reality against us. Going to the gardens won't be of any use! We have only a matter of hours before they do! We'll have to fight!"

" That goes without saying, but we need to get the innocents out of the way first." Cole replied. Chris was grabbing his face and shaking like a leaf.

" We need to get to El Dorado." Chris suddenly blurted out. He moved out of the way as the whitelighters helped clear out the vicinity.

_All civilians to the auditorium. Begin transport to the gardens._ A telepathic announcement boomed. But this was calming people. At least there was something being done.

" El Dorado?"

" But we haven't figured out who was supposed to say it!"

" Actually, we have." A woman inserted. Sakura was holding Chris's gem. Cole momentarily blinked—he wondered when he gave it up. He could not remember when that happened.

Everyone still in the room went silent.

" Whose is that?" Charlie asked. " Fucking hell! I've never seen anything like it before!"

" It makes sense." Sakura sounded very calm and collected. " He's the only whitelighter who did not go."

Everyone, including Cole, turned their faces to Chris.

Chris shook. " It's too soon. No doubt this is what he wanted."

" We have no fucking time!" Charlie broke in. " Any minute now, Billie's shields will give! We have to use El Dorado's supplemental power, damn it!"

" We have a matter of hours. Wyatt's probably too preoccupied with Colombia right now," Yi told Chris. " We have to say the password. To protect the refugees."

" Alright." Chris was pale, and Cole was not sure if he was frightened at the prospect of perhaps running into Wyatt again, or still shocked over Billie's death. " Get the teams together. We're going to El Dorado, ASAP."

Their world was ending. Cole felt like _his _world was being flipped. Everyone was in such a state of panic. It was all a mess. As preparations commenced, he suddenly realized that everyone left behind in Colombia was probably dead. Including Sardo, who had been the one to order the portals closed.

oO

They lost the Colombian base. Wyatt slaughtered everyone there. Cole sensed the souls depart, hundreds of voices abruptly silenced. The skies darkened with smoke and debris, and ash covered the grass and dirt like a dusty shroud.

They arrived at the deceptively quiet gates of El Dorado. Gold and glimmering were its doors, tall and majestic. Long ago, this great city had been the capital of a great empire, a great nation rich in culture and heritage. Its silence now seemed both calming and foreboding. In the matter of seconds, El Dorado had become their only hope for survival.

Chris ordered a scouting of the area to see if there was any ambush. There appeared to be none. He stepped in front of the doors.

Cole turned to Sakura. " How did you get the gem?" He asked. " I had been holding on to it."

" His was noticeably absent." Sakura replied. " Besides, certain things you do not need to see to know." She held up the gem where, with a dull shimmer, it became an ordinary stone. Cole reached into his pocket to pull out Chris's gem. It had been in his pant pocket all along. Sakura had merely created the illusion to convince Chris to come.

" What if we're wrong?" He asked.

" As far as we know, nothing will happen, then." Said Sakura. " The gates of El Dorado fire not on good souls. But, he must come here." She looked somewhat sad. " This leads him to his destiny."

Chris considered the gates for a long time in silence. He was afraid, because he knew that Wyatt was expecting him to do this. But the longer they waited, the less time they had. Chris had no choice but to open the gates somehow. He finally murmured the password under his breath. They heard a loud groan, followed by clicking noises, like locks being turned. Then the golden gates began to move, opening inward. Inside was quiet, barren, and desolate. A dead ghost of a city, abandoned long ago, locked away in time.

In a flash, Cole saw them walking into the city of gold, of Chris taking the power of El Dorado and enhancing the barriers of his forts, ensuring that even if they could not defeat Wyatt, they would forever hold him at a stalemate—

_" Charge!_"

Cole heard the arrows before he saw them. The demons leaped out into the open, throwing fireballs. They had shimmered in as soon as they were done with the fort. Sakura was hit first in the midsection. She lit up like a torch and collapsed back. Cole glanced down at her in panic. Her face remained calm, even as it burned away. He felt a fireball hit him, but it glanced off harmlessly.

Cole felt a wave of blasting power, but this power actually came from behind him—he turned around to see Chris flinging his arms out, like Piper. He flicked his wrists again and another wave of energy whipped through the air. This wave went right through Cole, making him feel uncomfortable, but did not otherwise hurt him. The demons in front of him burst into flames, however, and disintegrated into dust before they could even scream.

" Hold them back!" Chris yelled. " John, get inside!"

The whitelighter ran for it, but he was instantly shot by a darklighter arrow. More arrows shot through the air, and Chris abruptly ducked flat on the ground rather than using his telekinesis to divert all of them. The air flashed as athames were thrown. Cole looked up to find Chris. _Where is he? Was he hit?_

" Fuck!" Charlie shouted. He flung a potion toward a demon. Cole snapped his head to look at him, wondering why the man cursed, just in time to see the his head blown clean off. Blood erupted from his decapitated head and neck before the body toppled slowly back, almost comically. Cole stared, frozen for a moment. That was too sudden. Too sudden. He was going to be sick.

A great explosion erupted from the ground, sending bodies flying with chunks of dirt. Cole was flung into the air. He quickly scrambled to his feet upon hitting the ground, and once again scanned the area for Chris. Chris suddenly orbed to his side, out of nowhere, and with a flick of his wrists, blasted several more demons into oblivion. Darklighters fired their crossbows at Chris, and Cole stepped in their path. They glanced off him, like wood hitting stone. A splash of blood hit his face violently, like a slap. He blinked through the stinging in his eyes but could not pinpoint where it came from. Not a demon, whatever it was. The blood smelled human.

" _Christopher!_" Boomed a menacing voice, taunting. Wyatt's presence seemed to weigh down on the earth. Cole looked up to see the man's form against the dark sky. The Dark Lord raised an arm and the solid gold doors of El Dorado burst into pieces.

Chris spun around so fast that he hit Cole's arm. The boy was already trembling. The Resistance doubled back, fearing for their lives. Without Billie's amplifier, Chris could only last minutes against Wyatt. Chris knew that too.

" Tsk tsk, ickle Chris," Wyatt sneered. " I gave you a chance to thrive at my side. Instead you turned against me. You've been fooling around for long enough!"

" Cole, Cole, _please_—" Cole was not sure what Chris was begging for, but the leader of the Resistance was terrified. " Cole, _please!_"

There was nothing Cole could do. He was indestructible, but that did not mean he could provide much help. Not against someone like Wyatt.

Wyatt raised his hand. The earth exploded underneath them. Screams filled the air as bodies were sent flying, and fires choked the air. Cole landed violently against the ground—had he been alive, his bones would have shattered.

He staggered to his feet—Chris disappeared in a trail of orbs. Cole sensed the orbs materialize inside El Dorado. The boy was desperately trying to find the magical source of the city. It was their only hope—he needed some sort of amplifier to bring up the shields and keep Wyatt back while the others escape, but with Wyatt in pursuit, there was no way Chris could find it in time. Cole had to do something.

He ran toward Wyatt, lunging with one arm. Wyatt dodged his hand.

" Cole Turner!" Wyatt roared, and with a massive telekinetic shove, forced Cole away from him. Cole shimmered into the realm between realms and then back, but Wyatt had already orbed. Cole shimmered after them. They emerged on the roof of an ancient temple. Demons shimmered in after them, and Chris was blasting Wyatt for all he was worth. His power had little effect on Wyatt's blue shield, and with the darklighters shooting arrows, Chris was quickly getting overwhelmed.

Cole stepped in front of Chris to block the arrows' trajectory. With both arms he gathered all the arrows as they flew at him and flung them back. Wyatt's shield bounced them away.

" You're alone now, Chris!" Wyatt thundered. " Your Cole Turner cannot protect you here!"

The boy froze, pale as a ghost under the soot that covered his skin.

Blue orbs fluttered down. Leo materialized beside Cole. Wyatt was raising his Excalibur, having drawn it, but he froze upon the sight of his father.

" Hello, _Dad,_" Wyatt sneered. " Come to watch the show, have you?"

" Stop this, now." Leo said quietly. " This isn't you."

Wyatt barked a laugh. Despite his inner panic, Cole wanted to, as well. _Who was Leo kidding?_ Did he honestly think Wyatt would back down because Leo said so?

" He's your brother." Leo whispered. " He's family."

Watt snickered again, glancing at his demons with a scornful smirk. " Yes, _Dad, _I know he's my brother. I've only grown up with him all of my life, after all." He shook his head. " You know what I never understood? How you could be so damn stubborn. You're really fucked in the head, you know, Leo Wyatt. I gotta say, I did appreciate all the extra attention. Buying whatever I wanted, even when it came as a cost to Chris. Always siding with me whenever I argued with Chris. It's seriously like you're out to get him. And you know what?" He grinned maliciously, " Even when I _cared_ about pathetic mush like that, I never cared much for _you._ You were a complete fool." He raised his sword. " Now, allow me to show you just _how much _I care about _family._"

With a bright blue blaze, Excalibur lifted from Wyatt's hand and zipped through the air, plunging into Leo's chest. The man's face went white from the shock and pain. Wyatt pulled his arm back and the sword jerked out of Leo violently, splashing his blood everywhere. Lifting the reddened blade, Wyatt only sneered down at Leo as the man crumpled to the ground.

" Ach, that's gotta hurt, _Dad._" The Dark Lord laughed, and his demons laughed as well. " We'll just leave you to watch the show, shall we?" He turned his cold blue eyes to Chris, who was still paralyzed with fear. He waved his arms at the demons. " _Get him._"

Cole stepped in front of Chris to block him from the arrows. He could do little more than hand-to-hand combat with so many demons at this point, and wished, vehemently, that he still had his powers, even demon ones, so that he could protect Chris better. Chris snapped out of his daze and blasted at the demons in front of him, killing them instantly. Then he began a succession of combustions, one after the other, never stopping. he did not even see what was in front of him.

A potion flew by Cole's ear. Cole turned around to see Yi and Tara, along with several other members of the Resistance. The two sides lunged at each other, and potion fumes filled the air. Wyatt hovered in the air, waving his sword like a King Arthur and crushing groups of Resistance units like they were ants.

Chris grunted behind him. In his distraction, Cole did not block one of the darklighter arrows, and it hit Chris's shoulder. As all color drained from the boy's face, the teen _ripped _out the arrow and flung it back at the demon horde. A darklighter screamed when it penetrated. Cole did not watch him die. He caught Chris as the boy collapsed.

" Chris! Stay with me. I need a whitelighter!" Cole shouted.

But there were no more whitelighters. Cole looked about despairingly. He could already feel the boy's life draining out of him.

" Bring him here."

Cole looked down.

It was Leo. His form was covered with blood from his bleeding torso. But he looked calm, and his eyes held no pain. Too frightened for Chris to question Leo's physical state, Cole shifted Chris's body closer to the whitelighter. As Leo put his hands over Chris's wound, Cole sensed something in the air puff, just like when Billie had died. He looked up just in time to see the temple roof glow with magic. The light swirled in the air like smoke and sucked in one direction—toward Wyatt.

" Take care of him." Leo whispered, drawing his hand back. " Go. Go!"

Cole shimmered out with Chris just as Wyatt used the city's power to bury El Dorado underground—taking with it everything and everyone.


	16. Epilogue: 2004

Shadows Like Ghosts

Epilogue:2004

" Where did I go wrong?" Chris sobbed. " What did I overlook? How could I have overlooked it so grossly?"

Cole did not care. He was only glad Chris's useless father finally did something right for once.

" Chris, there's no time to think about such things!" Eroof was talking into Chris's face to get the boy to look at him. " Chris! You gotta think of some plan!"

" We can't do anything anymore. I shouldn't have opened the gates." Chris shuddered. " I was hoping that Wyatt wouldn't expect me to but of course he did. How did he find the Colombian fort? I don't understand!"

" Your mistake was in your unwillingness to abandon that fort." Cole finally answered. " You should have abandoned them. Billie would never have died and you would never be in such a position."

Chris looked lost. " I could never do that."

" Then this was destiny." Cole sighed, thinking of Sakura's last words before she died. She had looked peaceful…perhaps things were not completely hopeless. " Some failures were meant to be."

Chris stared at him with watery eyes. " I can't believe that." He sobbed. " I can't believe that…that Fate has forsaken us. That it was all a tossup, just like that." He choked, grief spilling out of his eyes. Cole held the boy tightly, wishing he could physically shield him from sorrow. " I can't believe that we're forsaken."

Billie, the one who practically raised him with his mother…Sardo, that calm elf that had been his stable wall…Charlie and Yi, who had done anything Chris could not do himself—

" Think." Someone urged. " There's a way to do anything."

" I don't understand…" Chris shook his head. " I can't—" Cole looked at the other members, wishing they would leave the poor boy alone. Chris did not even have time to grieve!

" Chris, we need to plan!" A witch cried. " Wyatt's demons are weakening all of the shields! We have a matter of hours before they come!"

The Resistance was in chaos. Everyone was afraid, and a thick sense of doom hung in the air. _No way out. Wyatt is coming. Lord Wyatt is coming!_

" I-I-I don't know what to do." Chris shuddered. " I-I don't know what to do."

Silence fell.

" What now? We sit here and wait for him to kill us? Take us prisoner?"

" Surrender?"

" He'd torture us to death that way."

" Then what do we do?"

" Fight to the death."

Chris was suddenly very calm. His dirty face was wiped with almost a peaceful expression, but it was solemn and grave. His mind had already cleared.

" Has Leo told anyone anything?" He asked.

" What?" The others were startled.

" What do you mean?" Cole asked.

" About when Wyatt was turned."

Suddenly, Cole knew what Chris was planning. He felt like there was a resounding noise of a gong, signaling that fate had come full circle. He looked at Chris's green eyes.

oO

" I have a year."

" A year's a long time for a time travel expedition. Even the Charmed Ones couldn't go for so long."

" It could be shorter."

" It could be longer."

" Cole, it's our only chance."

Silence.

" We need the Book of Shadows."

" Wyatt has them."

" Well then we need to sneak into Wyatt's."

" We? Who's 'we'?"

" Cole and I."

" I'm not getting involved in this."

" Then I go along."

Cole was suddenly angry. " You don't have the _balls _to go alone."

" You're a fucked up asshole." Chris spat back angrily. " You need to start thinking about other people and quit thinking only about yourself. It's how you lost Aunt Phoebe and God damn it, if you keep this up it's how you'll lose me and all of the Resistance."

" It's too dangerous!"

" _We have lost!_" Chris erupted, his green eyes flashing in rage. " We have lost." He repeated in a quieter tone. " This is our last chance. Wyatt has El Dorado, ninety percent of the world, and the Resistance has _me_, his inferior little brother, and _you_, a non-spirit whose only abilities involve shimmering a small group of people back and forth. What do _you _suggest, huh?"

Cole felt his heart break.

" Billie is dead! Sardo is dead! Tara is dead! Yi is dead! _Charlie is dead!_" Chris's voice broke. " Those are all top officers, Cole! And right now, one by one the wards are falling everywhere else!"

" We have no information, Chris." A witch protested. " We have no idea if Wyatt was actually turned."

" No, he was turned."

" Well if we do know that, we still don't know how, or when. One year is a long time. he could have been turned at three in the morning while everyone was sleeping."

" I'll set up wards for that."

" Maybe you went to the past once and did that and failed."

" Maybe I didn't."

" What if whoever it was kills you?"

" I'll try my best to stay alive." Chris was suddenly in front of Cole, crouching in front of him. " Cole?"

Cole blinked at him, as if out of a trance. " Wh-What?" His voice was strangely soft and feeble.

" Will you help me?" The boy asked.

_Just…thank you. I know I don't deserve your help, but you helped me anyway._

Earnest green eyes stared at him. How could he refuse? This world that is crashing around them, the darkness over the land. Maybe this was part of his punishment, to know love and yet never be able to truly have it. Punishment for his past crimes.

_This is what I mean by working things out. Isn't this what family is all about?_

" Can you talk to them?" Cole asked sadly.

" I don't know." Chris replied knowing what Cole meant. " With the little information we have, I can't even safely tell them who I am, let alone who you are."

Cole shut his eyes.

" Cole."

_Chris is so strong. Billie is gone and so is Sardo and yet he is still thinking ahead. What an incredible child._ Cole hated Leo more than ever.

" You're going with or without me anyway."

" Yeah."

" I'll help you." Cole said softly.

oO

They found the year, picked a safe date for Chris to emerge, and Chris and Cole soon found themselves in front of the Halliwell manor. There, Wyatt hid the book in plain sight. He could not touch it—it was useless to him as long as it repels evil, but he kept it in the Halliwell manor because no one would think to look there.

Except Chris.

" Dad finally came through for me." Chris said from beside Cole as they looked up at the house. " Sort of."

Cole sniffed.

" Never thought he cared enough. Everything was always about Wyatt."

" Your father loved you." Cole said quietly, knowing that Chris deserved the truth. " He paid more attention to Wyatt because he loved Wyatt less, if anything. Or trusted Wyatt less, whichever is the case. He was always proud of you, always confident you will turn out okay. He was stupid, but he loved you all the same."

Silence fell for a moment. " Thank you." Chris said quietly.

" Don't thank me." Cole shook his head. " I was too mad at him to tell you sooner. Maybe this wouldn't have happened."

" I wouldn't have believed you anyway." Said Chris.

Cole looked at him. " Do you believe me now?"

" I don't know." Said Chris. " But it's nice that you think so."

" I don't _think _so."

Chris grinned a sad grin. The wind blew mournfully, brushing his hair into his eyes.

" It wouldn't matter." Said Chris. " If I can change the past. They'll all be alive, and well. And if they're not, well, they could all die differently." He nodded, more to console himself than to talk to Cole.

" This is it." The boy then sighed. " As soon as we go in there, as soon as we tear out the page, Wyatt's demons will be in there, if not Wyatt himself. We need to draw the triquetra quick, and then you cover while I read the spell."

" Alright."

oO

They emerged in the attic. The attic was dark and gray. No one has stepped in it for years, and cobwebs and dust covered every surface and wall. The room was barren save for the podium with the Book of Shadows, tucked away to the corner. What a mockery of the past, of the triumph of the Three Sisters, their former glories completely erased by a single ill-born offspring. All they represented, shattered. Darkness shrouded the place like a tomb, as if the spirits of the fallen warriors from El Dorado and beyond had all gathered to watch Destiny unfold. Shadows like ghosts. Among this place of hopeless despair, the world's only beacon of light wandered, taking in what used to be his childhood haven. The candle in a labyrinth. Taking out a piece of chalk as he swallowed thickly, Chris began drawing a triquetra on the far wall. Cole, out of curiosity, touched the book and tried to open it. It did not fly out of his reach.

" You're not evil." Chris said, with his back still turned to Cole. He went on drawing the symbol. Cole knew the boy was crying. He heard the child mutter, " Billie…Sardo…Vanessa…Sakura…" As his chalk drew in jerky motions, as if each jerk were a prayer to the dead.

Cole flipped the pages without answering. He found the spell all too soon. Chris stood by his side then, only murmuring, " We need to hurry," once. They looked at each other briefly, and Chris slipped his hand onto the page, preparing to tear it.

" Ready, set, go." He tore.

Alarms blared, and the next few minutes were a blur. Cole remembered throwing things at the demons—wooden splinters and pieces of chairs. Arrows shot at him and he lunged for them—he would not let them get Chris. A sudden blue glow enveloped the room as Chris slipped through the portal of time.

Then a wondrous change took place. The dusty attic, abandoned for years, transformed into that familiar place the Charmed Ones often cleaned and frequented during their living days. Sunlight filtered through the now clean windows. The book and its podium shifted to the side. Birds sang cheerily outside as a squirrel scampered over the roof. On the walls were pictures now, of Piper and Leo and the boys, of vacations, of Chris and Wyatt's high school graduation…

Cole stood in the room, lost and confused. Did Chris make it? He looked to the wall to see if the portal was reopening, but no glow formed.

Steps sounded up the stairs. A familiar voice snapped, " Wyatt, I got it!"

And then Chris emerged at the door to the attic.

Cole stared at him. Chris stared back.

Wyatt came up behind Chris. Looking alarmed, he instantly raised his hands to blast Cole.

" Whoa!" Chris blinked. " Who are you?"

Cole stared, shaken. _Of course._ This was what he feared all along. But seeing it, hearing the boy he loved so dearly ask him that—he looked despairingly at Chris's form. This Chris was healthy and handsome. He was dressed in black magical robes, while behind him Wyatt was dressed in a polo shirt. The two brothers were still staring at Cole, one puzzled and the other wary.

_Cole, has it ever occurred to you that I actually like having you around? If I go back to the past I'd lose you too._

_But that is not as much of a loss as mine._

Biting his lip, Cole turned away. He inhaled a shaky breath.

And shimmered away.

TBC in Winds Like Laughter


End file.
